Lydia Deetz and the witch's house
by Captain leon
Summary: Lydia Deetz and her cat boy, Percy, enter the haunted house to save Viola. fanfic crossover/retelling of bettlejuice and the witch's house, the game made with RPG Maker.
1. Cold wind, storm of death

_It is not intended to infringe the rights of those who own the franchises: "The Witch's House" and "Bettlejuice". Translation done with DeepL and myself, sorry for grammar and punctuation errors, thank you._

 **LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH'S HOUSE**

 **Capítulo 1: Cold wind, storm of death**

An icy wind that blows with disdain over the treetops of a small dark forest.

A creepy forest where even the sounds of animals and insects are perceived as distant, with the exception of the loud squawking of black rooks.

Rooks fluttering from branch to branch, destroying the countless webs that stubbornly cross the forest in a futile attempt to withstand the cruel gale.

Does this forest have a name? The adults who live near it avoid it. The children call it... the witch's forest.

A little girl whispers to her companion, both of them pedaling on an old bicycle for two cyclists.

The girl's appearance matches perfectly with the intimidating forest. Her perfect face has a white skin tone which contrasts with her dark hair, like seeing the wings of a crow on a moonless night.

The wind swayed the girl's blackest hairs, and her somewhat long, voluminous hairstyle reached down to her shoulders. The front part was in the High Class style and the back part was elegant in the Bobby Cut style.

The huge, black eyes like dark gems that at first penetrated the black forest now turned their attention to the boy behind her.

"Lydia, it's very cold because of the wind," complained the young man.

"The wind is blowing stronger and stronger," said Lydia. "Soon a storm will fall, let's go back to Winter River.

The girl was wearing her school uniform at the time, a navy blue suit with the school's coat of arms on the left side. Her long skirt was made of tartan of a colour ranging from blue to bluish grey and interspersed in rows. On this one, Lydia had put on a kind of jet-black skirt that covered two-thirds of the school's statutory skirt. Another "improvement" to his regulatory uniform had been to replace the neat, white shirt with a black one.

Percy, on the other hand, wore a casual outfit, but like Lydia, his black hair was swayed by the wind.

"Let's go back to the Peaceful Pines road," said Percy, and the two young pair rode hard.

The sound of thunder, which at first was heard far away, was now loud and repeated more regularly, as was the almost continuous flash of lightning, casting the shadow of the two young cyclists in strange angles and dreadful shapes that invited surprise and fainting.

The sound of rain was coming, neither Lydia nor Percy could escape the storm.

"Look Percy, there's a covered bridge up ahead!" Lydia said and the two of them started pedalling harder.

The covered bridge offered protection from the heavy rain and hail that followed.

The storm just above the bridge unfolded several powerful lightning bolts, some of them in the form of spectral hands that wanted to grab something or someone from the ground to carry it into the darkness.

"What's that loud noise?" Percy asked.

"They look like debris bumping into each other... They are rocks, huge rocks that bump into each other because of the force of the water that carries them downstream.2

Lydia and Percy approached the entrance of the covered bridge and saw to their amazement that the rocks were huge. The size of one-story houses were carried away by the current of the river which had increased its flow until it was close to licking the base of the bridge.

"Let's cross the bridge!" Percy shouted, but it was too late, the rocks crashed into the covered bridge and the whole structure cracked.

The cyclists pedaled on their footsteps and stopped for a moment, just a brief moment, long enough to see the entire structure of the bridge swallowed up by the raging waters and chopped up by the huge rocks that kept bumping into each other.

For Lydia, who was a Gothic girl, rain and lightning did not pose the same ominous threat as they did for other people, but the strong hail was not the ideal climate for unprotected gazing at the dark beauties that a strong storm could offer.

"Nyaouch, the hailstones hurt me!" Complained Percy, who at the time had pulled out his tail and cat ears.

The young man was a cat boy, not a furry-like creature. Percy had no cat face, no whiskers, no cat eyes, no cat paws. It had an elegant black feline tail, as well as two cat ears, which at that time were protected by the hands of the cat boy.

"We have to seek refuge!" Lydia shouted to make herself heard above the roar of the storm.

"I see a light, come on!" Percy said, thanks to his superior catboy view and the two friends hurriedly pedaled to what appeared to be a house on the edge of the forest.

The hail became more intense and Percy complained more because of the pain in his ears.

"Keep the tandem balanced!" Lydia shouted so that Percy who was behind her could hear her.

Percy's tail held Lydia's handlebar tightly, while she raised her right arm and directed her face to the sky despite the storm.

An ethereal light of spectral nature shone in Lydia's palm and then a huge Victorian umbrella floated over the pair and followed them without the need for anyone to hold it.

The wind was strong but did not seem to affect the huge black umbrella that turned vertically on its axis formed by a handle made of lacquered bones and dark brown, and showed flirtatiously its sombre and elegant design arabesques.

Already protected from the rain, Lydia and Percy resumed the march with fear in their hearts because of the possibility of being struck by lightning.

A bluish flash of lightning fell near them, causing the hairs on Percy's tail to bristle. Even Lydia noticed the hair on the back of her neck twitching.

"We'd better leave the tandem here and run," said Lydia.

Leaving the tandem, the two boys ran towards the house. The hail had already passed but the strong wind made the rain fall at a very sharp angle and it fell not only from above, but also from the sides.

"Percy use: 'transformation', 'wings', and 'extendable legs'." Lydia asked him, and Percy then turned himself into a jet-coloured house cat. Then, he grew a pair of huge black wings.

Percy stuck to Lydia's back and her legs extended beyond their original length, firmly surrounding her friend's chest and waist. In this way, the two friends now flew in a horizontal pose while still being covered by the magic umbrella.

In the distance one would think that Lydia had two large black wings on her back, and this strange silhouette came to the front of the house.

"Percy, quickly, transform yourself again and hide your ears and tail," asked Lydia and then with an elegant movement of her arm, made the magic umbrella disappear.

Then Lydia knocked on the door of the house a couple of times.

The door of sturdy white painted wood slid open and blond hair almost covering blue eyes peeked out the door.

"Yes, who are you?"

"Excuse me, but my friend and I got caught in the storm."

"Your friend?"

"Yes, this is Percy, and my name is Lydia. Please, could you give us shelter somewhere?"

The blonde girl observed Percy in the first place. The black-haired boy was handsome but with a slim build, he was not muscular, rather he had a slim, athletic figure, and his face... he was the most handsome boy she had ever seen in her life, he seemed not to be real.

Then she looked at Lydia and was surprised by the stark contrast between her very white skin and her jet-black hair. The girl was very pretty, she could have been a movie actress, she had a face that could have been on the cover of several magazines and she didn't have any makeup on.

However, what struck her most was the school suit she was wearing.

"Come in, my name is Viola, you're from Miss Shannon's all-girls school?"

"That's right, are you enrolled in that school too?"

"No, that school is in Peaceful Pines, the fancy neighborhood of Winter River. I'm enrolled in Winter River Public School, how's your friend?"

"Percy lives in my house but prefers to educate himself in a self-taught way."

"How's that?"

"It's kind of... complicated."

"You must have a lot of money to study at Miss Shannon, do you also live at Peaceful Pines?"

"No," said Percy, "we live on the hill on the main street."

"The one across the covered bridge, the one in red?"

"That's right," said Percy, who was walking around the place with a lot of fun, giving free rein to his curiosity.

"Wow, that's the hill the Maitlands used to live on."

"Did you know the Maitlands?" Lydia asked.

"No, it was my father who knew them. They had a very well stocked hardware store and my father went there a lot to buy things... I think the owners were called..."

"It was Adam and Barbara," Percy answered quickly and then changed the topic of conversation, which was taking a dangerous course for him, "Don't you live far from Winter River, how far do your parents let you go to school if it's so far away, is it true that they call this forest the witch's forest?"

"Hey, I don't live that far away, just across the covered bridge you're in Peaceful Pines and then there's the public school. I live alone with my father since my mother died many years ago, and about the forest... it's funny, but the hill where you live is called... uh, this..."

"Yes, don't worry," said Lydia, taking a sigh, "at school they also call me "the witch of Peaceful Pines"."

Viola watched Lydia very closely.

"Well, I think there's nothing wrong with being a witch, I myself have a friend who lives in the woods and is a witch, her name is... Ellen."

 **CONTINUARÁ...**

This fanfic is for Lydia Deetz fans, played by Winona Ryder, in the movie Bettlejuice by Tim Burton (the batman director, the strange world of Jack, the bride's corpse, etc.)

A new magic power for Lydia! That Victorian/Gothic umbrella thing, that's a touch I really liked.


	2. The cat came out of the bag

**LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH'S HOUSE**

 **Capítulo 2: The cat came out of the bag**

A black spider, as black as night and with long legs resembling claws, ran its web, which was built on the surface of one of the small tall windows on the first floor of Viola's house.

The strong wind of the storm made the dirty glass vibrate, but the spider did not change its mind, it seemed to be laughing at the black storm and its dark and vain intentions to break the glass.

Far below the web bathed in the yellow light of the spotlight, two girls and a boy were sitting at a large, but somewhat rough, wooden table. From the spider's perspective, the three children appear to be trapped flies ready to be wrapped and then devoured.

"Thanks for the tea, Viola" Lydia thanked the blonde girl.

"From what Percy told me, you're Gothic. I thought you preferred coffee."

"No, tea is my favorite."

"Black tea," said Percy, who was drinking hot milk at the time and making Viola laugh.

Lydia lowered the blood-red tea and gracefully raised her eyebrows and looked up at Percy for a second before smiling gently at the cat boy's words.

"Hey Percy," said Viola, a little worried, "are you sure the milk isn't too hot?"

"Yes, and I love it," said Percy happily, "before I couldn't drink hot milk, it had to be lukewarm and it had to be reduced with water."

"Eh, why?"

"As Lydia would say, it's complicated."

"You might say so," said the Gothic girl.

Seeing that her two guests preferred to keep quiet about certain things, Viola preferred not to insist on the matter.

"I'm sorry, Viola," said Lydia, "you told us earlier that you had a friend who lived in the woods."

"A witch friend!" Suddenly Percy said, who raised his arm and put on a happy face.

"Yes, but I think I exaggerated that about her being a witch. The other children say that she is a witch because she lives in the forest in an old house and it is very scary... like your house Lydia."

"I see..." said Lydia and an awkward silence fell over the three young kids."

"Viola mistrusts," thought Lydia. "She realized that Percy and I kept secrets. I don't want to keep secrets from Viola, but I don't know how she'll take the matter of Percy actually being an anime/manga catboy and me being a witch."

"And you live alone in this house?" Lydia asked her a bit suspicious about the personal question.

"No, my dad lives with me, my mom died giving birth to me."

"I'm so sorry, Viola."

"Don't worry, what about you?... There are crazy rumors going around about your family, are they really coming from New York?"

"Yes, I used to live on Prince Street. Because of my father's nervous breakdown we decided to move to Winter River."

"It must be very boring in Winter River, if you compare it to New York."

"Actually, I'd rather be here, I like to live in my own house than in a rented one."

"But the house and the garden were very big," said Percy, who seemed to want to lick his empty cup of milk and hold the cup tight with his long, delicate fingers, "oh, how good my hands feel, they're already warm... hot, hot, hot!"

"How big is it?"

"About 65,000 square feet," Lydia said calmly, holding Percy's hands with her fingers that were nothing to envy the cat boy's. "Are you all right, Percy?"

Viola opened the mouth because of the shock.

"That's amazing! You're rich, no wonder you're enrolled in Miss Shannon!" Viola said impressed, making Lydia smile uncomfortably.

"But you don't look like the girls who study at Miss Shannon's... I don't mean being Gothic!" she hastened to say, "is that Miss Shannon's girls are all arrogant."

"They are," said Percy, loose from his body.

"I think every school has its challenges," said Lydia with a sad smile.

"I can't wait to go to New York. A year ago the town held a raffle to raise funds to send the best students from the public school to New York City. Mrs. Jane organized the event."

"The real estate lady? She sold us the house after the Maitlands died."

"She herself, too bad my grades were terrible. So you like living here."

"That's right, I always wanted to live in my own house no matter how small."

"But the house is huge," said Percy, who now matched Lydia's attentions and stroked his girlfriend's fingers.

"Yes, it's a bonus that the house is Victorian style."

"I thought it was Gothic," said Viola, "what's the difference?"

"No wonder you're confused. See," Lydia explained, "is the term used to describe huge buildings such as Renaissance churches and public buildings such as the Westminster palace, which, of course, is neo-Gothic in style and dates back to the end of the 19th century."

"And the Victorian houses?" asked Viola.

"The architecture of the houses of the late 19th century is called Victorian. If it's something bigger like churches or the English parliament, it's called Gothic. Of course, today Victorian style houses are called Gothic."

"Lydia, your house is on the top of a very narrow, high hill, it looks like something out of a horror movie."

"That's right, I love it."

"How do you get all the way up that hill?"

"Lydia is very athletic, she was even asked to be part of the school cheerleading squad once," Percy said, "she always rides her bike home. As for me as a cat boy, I'm not tired either."

"...Huh?"

Viola was confused by what Percy said, and the fact that Lydia and her friend's faces showed surprise made the matter more mysterious.

The wind gave way to the glass and it fell to the ground, spider web and all.

CRASH

Poor Percy couldn't take it anymore and pulled out his ears and cat's tail. Making viola open the mouth.

"...Re... You're a witch! Unbelievable!"

"I'm so sorry, Lydia!"

"Oh, Percy..."

Lydia had to tell Viola everything about Percy and confess that she was a witch.

Viola was open-mouthed after Lydia's brief explanation, there were a lot of things she wanted to ask her but there would be time for that, now she had to come clean with her two friends and tell her all about Ellen.

"She lives alone in a house?" Percy asked.

"Yes, it's the only house inside the forest."

"And her parents?" Lydia asked.

"Ellen told me they died a year ago."

"That's strange," said Lydia, "you friend tells me she's seven, so she is an orphan since six. How did she manage to survive a whole year on her own, and what about the authorities, shouldn't they take care of Ellen?"

"Please don't! Ellen doesn't want to be taken to an orphanage! She has no family and I plan to have her live with me and my father."

"But it is not convenient for such a little girl to live alone," insisted Lydia.

"I visit Ellen every day and make sure she's okay, and I'm about to convince her to move in with me. After all, you're right, she's so sick she can't go on living alone."

"And what's wrong with that little girl?" Percy said.

"I think it's anemia from the symptoms, she can't get out of the house for long."

"But that's terrible! We have to get her to a hospital," Lydia said worried.

Ellen told me she would go, but first she wants me to help her with a magic trick.

"And what kind of trick does she want to do?" wanted to know Percy.

"She told me she wants to trade bodies for a day, to know what it feels like to be healthy. She's been sick all her life."

"That's a very complex spell," said Lydia.

"That's not a problem for Ellen because she's very smart, she read the whole library in her house, the one with the big books."

Nothing Viola said fit to Lydia, how could such a little girl read a library? In addition, Winter River was not a very large city, but rather a large town that enclosed a community for wealthy people like those who lived in Peaceful Pines, surely the authorities should have heard about Ellen and her parents even though they lived inside the surrounding forest, however, until now they had not intervened.

"I think the sooner you convince her to come to your house and stay, the better it will be for her," Lydia said, "she may be afraid to go to a doctor, but you have to convince her to come to your house."

"But Ellen told me that she wanted to talk about the body swap first."

"You mustn't let her do that. A spell like that requires a lot of stamina and concentration. If your friend is so sick, it would be a huge risk to her life to try to make the exchange of bodies, especially with how small she is."

"I understand, Lydia, I'll try to convince her first thing in the morning. I'm so worried about Ellen because of the storm, I hope nothing happened to her."

At that moment the door of the house was opened at the same time as the last thunderstorm hit the open field. A large, strong figure entered the house and carried a hunting rifle.

The man saw his daughter and two companions. The first seemed to be a girl of the same age as Viola, because the school uniform appeared to be not from her daughter's public school, but rather from Miss Shannon's school for girls; the second was a boy in casual clothes with a cat's tail and ears.

The man must have seen badly because of the storm water running down his face and began to rub his eyes. As he looked again he saw that there was nothing wrong with the young man who was inside his house at the time with the girl from the private school.

"Dad, I'm so glad you're here! Lydia, Percy, meet my father, he's a hunter and his name is Travis."

 **CONTINUARÁ...**

 _The content of this chapter is based on the original script by Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson of June 1, 1985, and not on the subsequent script of February 3, 1987 on which the film was based. I emphasize again that this work is not intended to be for profit and does not wish to violate any rights of Mr. McDowell and Mr. Wilson._


	3. Ravens and frogs

**LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH'S HOUSE**

 **Capítulo 3: Ravens and frogs in the cursed forest**

The sky early in the morning was gray due to the clouds that did not decide whether to continue or not with the storm of the previous night. Only a few distant thunderbolts threatened in vain all the creatures that dwelled on the earth.

"The storm is over," said Lydia, "but the drizzle continues."

"The smell of grass and wet soil is intense," said Percy.

"Follow my father and you will reach Winter River," said Viola, "as the other bridge collapsed, you will have to take the old stone bridge."

"This time," said Travis, Viola's father, "it's a long detour, so we'd better get going."

Percy went to take the tandem and Lydia hugged Viola to thank her and say goodbye.

"Thanks for letting us stay at your place, Viola. Don't forget what I told you about Ellen, don't do the body swapping spell."

Viola was about to answer her friend but Travis was already rushing the kids and Lydia had to get on the tandem with Percy.

The soft chirping of the morning birds was replaced by a loud chirping as the morning progressed and the three finally reached the old stone bridge.

A pair of majestic crows walked arrogantly across the bridge while apparently squawking at the fog that was beginning to swirl around.

"There used to be a crude bridge made of fallen trees, the Crow tribe natives built it," Travis said. "All this land belonged to them before they were relocated to the Indian reservation."

"Thank you very much Mr. Travis, I think that from here Percy and I can go quietly to Winter River."

"You're welcome, Lydia, I'll go ahead, I have to tell the mayor's office about the collapse of the bridge."

The man walked away and Lydia went to the crows who looked at her curiously.

"What are you doing, Lydia?" Percy asked her.

Before I go back to the village, I have to do something...

.

.

Lydia's snobby stepmother, Delia Deetz, was reluctant to get up late because she had to make sure her stepdaughter went to school. Charles, her husband, was still sleeping while he was babbling something that sounded like a "double bacon burger". The man missed the New York food.

"I think Charles needs more of my culinary delicacies," said the insufferable woman, who remained convinced that her disgusting dishes were a delight.

"Lydia, get ready for school!" said Delia as she knocked on the door of her stepdaughter's room, "Yesterday you didn't tell us you arrived young lady!"

No one answered and when Delia was about to open the girl's room, a voice was heard on the other side of the door.

"I woke up, I'm going to school right away."

"Are you okay? Your voice sounds like you have a cold."

"I'm going to school right away."

The woman decided to go back to her room and continue sleeping, as a raven came out of Lydia's room, around her feathered neck, a ring of fuchsia light had just burst into thousands of tiny fragments. Lydia's spell was over.

.

.

The Gothic girl barely arrived in the village, rushed to the newspaper library and searched for news about the house in the forest next to Viola's house.

"...Oh no."

Meanwhile, at the house in the woods, Viola was telling Ellen about her friends Lydia and Percy.

"And did Lydia tell you when she would visit you again?" Ellen asked Viola, as she made an effort to keep her voice sounding like that of a sick child and not reveal her surprise at the news her blonde friend brought her.

"She didn't tell me an exact date, but I guess it will be tomorrow since it's Saturday."

There was not much time, if at first the description of Viola's Gothic friend had interested her, now she considered Lydia not as a better prospect than Viola for the body exchange spell, but rather as a danger to her plans. Even his catboy friend might bring complications, no, it was best to hurry up the plans.

"Cog, Viola, it hurts so much."

"Ellen, you have to go to the hospital."

"Cog, I don't think I can even get out of the house."

"Wait for me, I'll get help!"

"Cog, cog, cog... I'll be dead before you get there."

"Don't give up!"

"I beg you, Viola... the spell."

"But..."

"Before I die, I want to see what it feels like to run free in the field... At least that before I die!"

Ellen started crying and only stopped when she had a sudden coughing attack. You could tell she was breathing harder and harder.

"Okay, Ellen, just tell me what to do."

.

.

Lydia and Percy rushed to the mayor's office but were unable to locate Travis, so they left him a message as they were told he would be back soon.

"Percy, we have to hurry to meet Viola, she's in serious danger."

"But with the tandem we won't get there soon, remember that the covered bridge is no longer there. What are we gonna do, we gonna fly?"

"The sky is clear now, I don't think it's wise to do it. I have an idea, let's go to the village cemetery."

The cemetery was located between the residential neighborhood of Peaceful Pines and the rest of the town of Winter River. It was respectable in size and the occasional tree adorned the surroundings with its greenery, except for one that lay upright but devoid of almost all its leaves on all its knotty and twisted branches.

The tree was intimidating with deep, black openings that gave him the appearance of a dark face with a huge mouth, ready to devour whoever approached him.

"Lydia, what do we do now?"

"We will go through the "darkness". It's like traveling through the realm of perpetual shadows, we'll get there fast."

"Lydia, this reminds me of that movie "The Endless Story 2"."

"Albert Einstein would say that it is nonsense that the "speed" of darkness is greater than the speed of light, but remember that magic twists the fundamental laws of physics."

"Will we be safe there?"

"As long as we try only to "bend" the physical laws and not "break" them, we will not have any problem."

Then the two kids hugged each other and their bodies plunged to the ground until they disappeared.

Travelling in the dark was like swimming with your eyes closed and not being able to reach out your arms at will, and feeling something around you in that perpetual darkness. It was like swimming in the depths of the ocean and a sea serpent swimming around your body.

Although the displacement was noticeable, in real time, only one blink had occurred and both Lydia and Percy emerged vertically from the ground and without any trace of being covered with earth.

"We arrived in front of the viola house, let's go in!" Lydia said hastily, and suddenly opened the front door, which was apparently unlocked.

Lydia called Viola, but Percy with his super-developed cat boy senses said there was no one home.

"It's best if we go into the woods and try to locate Ellen's house," Percy suggested.

"The forest is very big," said Lydia, "the best thing is to fly and try to locate a clearing, the house must be located in a clearing in the forest."

The kids left Viola's house and, as they did when they were caught in the storm, they started to fly.

When they tried to fly over the forest, a wind apparently formed by dark green leaves began to surround them and hit them hard.

"Percy, it's impossible to move forward, let's go back to Viola's house!"

The children returned and at that moment a group of crows approached them. The flock was led by a crow so old that he was almost blind and was helped by other younger crows.

"...Flying over the forest is impossible because of the spell of evil," graced the old raven called: chief, "you must walk through the forest but the evil mist will make you lose yourself. Take gifts, this "calumet" (peace pipe) has powerful magic tobacco that will ward off evil..."

"Thanks Chief, wish my partner and I luck," Lydia thanked him after receiving the gifts and wrapping them carefully.

The two companions entered the forest and noticed how the atmosphere changed. On the outskirts there was a pleasant sunny climate, while in the dark forest, the sky vault seemed to be covered with grey clouds and the countless leaves did not allow enough sunlight to filter through.

"For a forest, It's very quiet."

"It's true Lydia, my ears can't hear anything," said Percy as he grabbed his tail nervously.

"Look Percy, the fog is beginning to surround us."

"Leave this to me, Lydia."

"All right."

Lydia passed to Percy, the peace pipe. Once it was lit, Percy started smoking and puffing.

The thick fog began to give way to the faint vortex of smoke from Percy's lips, allowing the children to move through the forest.

In order not to separate, Percy stretched his tail and it was firmly around Lydia's waist. In that, the children heard a high-pitched cry that apparently came from a stream in the forest.

As they approached, they saw that it was a frog and its offspring, who were inconsolable.

Lydia wanted to know the reason for her mournful cry and the frog explained that her husband had entered the witch's house in search of one of her offspring and had not yet returned.

What about your missing son?" Lydia asked.

"He's back, but my husband's still missing."

"Could you show us the way to the haunted house?" Percy asked her.

"We're looking for our friend, she's inside the house. While we're looking for her, we'll see if your husband's here too."

The frog accepted and along with her frogs, led the two kids to the haunted house.

"How strange," said the frog, "the passage leading to the house is blocked by all these roses."

The frog stepped forward and found a passage through the middle of the rose bush through which Lydia and Percy could pass.

Percy turned into a black cat and Lydia did the same. The two dark cats crossed the rose bush with the frog and then returned to their original forms.

"I'm a catboy again! I can't hide my ears and tail!"

"Apparently this place has magic that disrupts whatever power we may have."

"What do we do now?"

"For the time being we should head for the house. You, ma'am, go back to your children and get out of the woods, it's dangerous. Outside are the crows and they won't hurt you."

The frog thanked Lydia and returned to the rose bush.

Lydia stroked the roses and turned around so that together with Percy, they could go to look for Viola.

 **CONTINUARÁ...**

 _Thank you for reading, don't forget to vote and leave your comment, pretty please_


	4. Mother and her puppy

**LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH'S HOUSE**

 **Capítulo 4: Mother and her puppy**

The evil mist was present within the clearing with the difference that here it ran faster due to a supernatural wind howling like a hungry wolf and ready to be satisfied with human flesh.

"I'd better light the peace pipe," Percy suggested, but was stopped by Lydia.

"No need Percy, the fog was meant to disorientate us in the forest. Here in the clearing it loses its target."

Just a few steps ahead, Percy sensed a tiny glimmer of light a few feet away from the clearing.

"Look Lydia..."

"We'd better investigate."

The two kids found an old machete, it was stuck in a stump. It reminded them in a way of the excalibur sword.

"Leave this to me, Lydia," said the catboy and then pulled the machete out of the hard stump, then Percy's ears went to the clearing.

"What's going on, Percy?"

"Viola is in the clearing."

"We'd better go to her."

Viola looked confused because she couldn't get out of the clearing and made a jump when she saw Lydia and Percy approach her to meet her.

"...Lydia, Percy."

"Viola, you're all right!" Lydia asked her worried.

"Eh, yeah, I just can't get out of the clearing because of the roses."

"We can't get out of the clearing either, I think we're trapped," said Lydia, while Percy's ears turned in his girlfriend's direction. Percy has a machete, but I doubt we can use it to get out.

"Going towards the house," said Viola, "there is a passage that leads to the house, but it is blocked by other roses, but not as numerous as the rose garden in front of us."

"What can we do, Lydia?" Percy asked nervously.

"I think we have no choice but to head for the house, maybe we can find a way out of here."

"Are you sure you can't do anything, Lydia?" asked Viola.

"Nothing at all," denied Lydia with her head, "once here, I discovered that my magic was neutralized. Tell me, Viola, do you think you can convince Ellen to follow us home? It's obvious this place is responsible for your friend's deteriorating health."

"I don't think so, Lydia. In fact, I think it's Ellen who won't let us leave the house. The best thing to do is to avoid her... you see, she's gone crazy and now she's very dangerous."

"But didn't you say she was sick?" Percy asked.

"She's dangerous, I can see that now! We gotta get out of this place! I just want to go back to my dad," said Viola and cried.

"Lydia..."

"I know, Percy. Well, Viola's right, this evil environment is draining our lives, even if we stay here, we'll end up dying. The only way out we have is to get into the house and get a way out of here."

The three present nodded their eyes and headed for the house.

To the left of the road was a dead tree and to the right a live one. The plants that adorned the surrounding area wore their opaque petals, surely a product of the cursed aura that surrounded the whole place.

Arriving at the passage obstructed by the roses, the boys stopped and at a sign from Lydia, Percy cut the roses with his machete.

The passage was now unlocked, but the machete broke into several pieces.

"The machete was our only weapon and now we've lost it," complained Percy.

"This is a situation that we will not solve with the use of force," said Lydia.

The three companions then went to the entrance of Ellen's house.

Like a huge mass, Ellen's house seemed to be indifferent to the surrounding wind.

"It's not a Gothic house," said Lydia, "it's more like an Elizabethan house because of its cube shape, but without any mullion. Only a few small windows."

"Lydia, that house scares me."

"Is your house just like this Lydia?" wanted to know Viola.

"My house is Gothic style, this house is more like a simple old house. We'd better get inside."

The three friends went through the front door and noticed that the interior was poorly lit.

"It's not an Elizabethan-style house," observed Lydia, "the main foyer is not spacious. This is more like the antechamber to a prison, anyone can get in, but getting out is something else."

"Do you think the whole house looks just like this room?" Percy asked a little apprehensive as his ears turned to a dark corner of the room.

"It's the safest thing to do. Viola, Percy, we'd better move on, but first we'd better introduce ourselves to our friend."

"Nyajejejeje, I see you've discovered me," said a black cat that emerged from the shadows of a corner of the room.

"A cousin of mine!" Percy exclaimed as he stood on all fours and wagged his tail and ears happily.

"Yes... I guess, why not," said the cat as he turned his eyes away and pushed Percy's face away with his paw.

"Who are you?" Lydia asked.

"I'm just a stray cat who has no master and no name."

"Are you here to bother us?" asked Viola frowning.

"None of that," said the black cat with a laugh, "you guys look like a very funny bunch. I think I'll come with you guys for some fun."

"Let's go then," said Lydia and the group walked through the door.

The next room was darker than the previous one, at least in the previous one there were some furniture and lamps that emitted a pale light that illuminated very little. Here, however, the room lacked any furniture and the floor was made of rough stone.

There was a sign nailed to the front wall.

"Wait!" Viola shouted as she was holding Lydia, "Don't step on that bloodstain... it gives me a bad feeling."

The group surrounded the bloodstain and read the sign.

"Come to my room."

It seemed that nothing more could be done in the room and they returned in his footsteps. However, as they walked through the door, they saw to their surprise that they were in a different room than the main hall of the house. It had similar furniture and the lamps lit better, though not too brightly.

"What happened?" Percy asked.

"We took a step forward," said Lydia, "the first of many on this tightrope. We have to be careful if we are not to fall into the abyss."

"Yeah, I don't think there's a safety net downstairs," said Viola.

"This is fun," laughed the black cat, "I will follow you from time to time to laugh."

The black cat decided to sit down and groom himself while the group went to the room on the left. There was a pair of huge scissors that were attached to a metal table by a thin chain.

"Don't break the chain, Percy" Lydia asked, "I think the house and Ellen are challenging us in a game of wit. If we try to break the rules, we'll lose out."

The friends went across the hall and found another room with a teddy bear in a wicker basket. Just like in the naked room, there was another sign.

"Put the bears in the basket."

It was clear what was to be done next and all three went to the room at the far end to the north. They had to pass through a narrow corridor that was crowned at one end by an ancient and elegant wall clock. To the right of the clock, there was another room.

"This looks like an office of sorts," Percy said, and it did look like one, except for the pile of toys piled up in a corner.

"There's the teddy bear," said Viola and then went to get the doll.

Percy, who was snooping around, saw a wooden shelf that couldn't be opened. Meanwhile, Lydia was reading a few notes, apparently fragments of a diary.

"I was sick, so nobody played with me."

"My father and mother didn't love me."

"How sad, Lydia," Percy said as he read the note over the Gothic girl's shoulder, "it's just like your case."

Viola stared at Lydia.

"Really?" asked the girl in the golden braids.

"My mother died a long time ago. My father and stepmother have other interests than me. Come on, let's go on."

Lydia offered Viola her hand. She hesitated for a few seconds and took Lydia's hand, then they set out to leave the room.

PUM

One of the packages that was next to the other toys fell to the floor very quickly.

"Lydia... that package was in the pile," Percy said nervously, "it's like someone threw it away."

Both you and I can see ghosts. But the magic of the house inhibits our powers.

"Then we'd better get out of here," said Viola.

The sound of the wall clock was heard louder than usual due to the oppressive silence of the house, even the sound of the children's footsteps seemed to want to go unnoticed, as well as the heartbeat of everyone, which threatened to stop so as not to disturb the solemn silence.

"Hey, that's a cute little bear," said the black cat when he saw the boys coming back from the office, "no one in their right mind would hurt anything so cute."

Lydia frowned and walked away.

Upon arriving at the other side of the room, Viola, who had the teddy bear, proceeded to put it on the metal table and began to cut off his arms with the scissors.

With each cut more and more blood gushed out, staining the scissors.

"Lydia!" Percy shouted, but Lydia stood still as she looked at Viola.

"I think this should do it," said Viola and Lydia nodded.

SPLASH

Just as they were about to leave the room, the wall by the door was covered with a blood stain. It seemed to be the footprint of a bear's leg.

"We better pick up the pace," Lydia suggested.

"I see I'm wrong," said the black cat lazily when he saw the bleeding bear.

SHUSH

The lamps suddenly went out, making everyone look around nervously.

"Something is haunting us," Percy said, "something big."

"Lydia is right, let's hurry up," said Viola as she squeezed the teddy bear tighter.

Arriving at the room with the wicker basket, Viola was able to put the little teddy bear next to the other one representing her mother.

SPLASH

A bloodstain hit the wall, it was a bear print.

CLICK

The sound of a door lock unlocking was heard.

"Let's not dwell on it," said Lydia and everyone went out into the hallway of the lamps that had just gone out.

STUMP

One of the vases fell to the floor.

RWWWWWWR

A giant teddy bear with eyes without eyelids and a bloody mouth bounced with terrifying speed towards the children.

There was no time to say run or even scream. The three of them turned around in less than a heartbeat and as this completed it, they crossed the door to escape from the giant infernal doll.

"What the hell, what the hell was that!" Percy shouted.

"Something I don't think we'll see again," said Lydia as she pointed to the wicker basket.

The basket was somewhere else far from the center of the room and both the mother and the cub cried.

"I think it's safe to go back now," said Lydia, "the sound we heard earlier was the sound of the scissors door."

Percy was apprehensive, but he followed the girls anyway.

The door was already unlocked, they could explore the rest of the house.

PUM

The bleeding arms of the stuffed animal fell off suddenly from God knows where.

"Are we going to give them back to the toy?" Percy asked.

"No," said Viola, "they may be useful to us."

Lydia nodded and the three of them walked through the door into the haunted house.

 **CONTINUARÁ...**

 _Thank you for reading, don't forget to leave your votes and comments, pretty please._


	5. The cook's tribulations

**LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH'S HOUSE**

 **Capítulo 5: The cook's tribulations**

The door opened with the sound of dry wood and the kids entered a spacious but poorly lit dining room.

"It's strange," said Lydia, "some parts of the house are covered in cobwebs, giving the impression that the house is abandoned. But the tablecloth on the dining room table is very clean and neat."

" What's that over there, Lydia?" Percy asked, as he approached a bowl on the side of the table.

"I think it's poison," said Viola.

"How do you know that?" Lydia asked.

"What else could it be? So far we haven't seen Ellen. I'm sure this is her trap."

"Viola's right, Lydia," said Percy, sniffing the bowl, "this is not for eating."

The children surrounded the table and saw another worn and moldy paper sign next to a door to the north.

"The cook is tired, give him a hand"

"What can this mean," asked Percy.

Lydia shook her head, nodding to the cat boy that she didn't know what the message meant either, and when she put her very white-fingered hand on the doorknob, she was stopped by Viola.

"This door gives me a bad feeling, we'd better find another way out," said Viola with a nervous look.

"All right. I see another door out front, we'd better get over there."

As they walked through the door, they saw to their surprise that they had reached the previous corridor.

"You scared me! Don't just come out of nowhere!" The black cat shouted at them as he bristled his fur.

"Hey, are we back in the hallway? What's going on?" wanted to know Percy, who, like the black cat, bristled the hairs on his black tail.

"Apparently the house changes its structure or part of its structure, depending on which door we go through," Lydia explained, "if that is the case, it would be very dangerous for us to separate to cover more ground. Not that I was considering the idea in the first place, since the worst thing to do in these cases is to separate."

"What can we do?" Percy asked.

"Viola, there's no alternative. We must go by the north gate, there is no other way."

Viola accepted with a resigned face and the three friends returned to the dining room. The black cat, however, decided to stay in the hallway.

"Lydia, look!" Percy said.

The bowl had changed shape and was now equal to a person's skull, with the exception that the top had been cut off and now the skull served as a macabre replacement for the bowl.

"The poison is still in the bowl," said Lydia.

Then, the boys got up the courage and opened the northern door next to the sign.

Apparently they had arrived at the kitchen of the old house. The floor was made up of small blue stone cobblestones that formed mushroom-shaped patterns and on top of them a small black mouse rushed from place to place that reminded them of a piece of charcoal.

"Easy, Percy," Lydia calmed the catboy, who immediately put his ears on alert and each of his hands made a fist. It was obvious he wanted to chase the rodent.

"Look," said Viola as she pointed her finger at the back of the poorly lit kitchen.

TICK, TICK, TICK, TICK.

At first Lydia couldn't see anything, all she could hear was a constant, repetitive sound, it seemed as if someone was using a knife on a wooden stand.

And then when Lydia noticed that sound, she could see what Viola was pointing to.

The kitchen knife looked like it was cutting vegetables, yet no one was holding the knife.

"A ghost," said Lydia, seeing how the invisible ghost cast a faint shadow over the cobblestones.

"You couldn't see the ghost Lydia?" Percy said strangely.

"The house apparently nullified all my magical powers, including those relating to perception, what about you Percy?"

"I couldn't see him either. I can't see ghosts or turn into a cat, I bet you I can't catch that ghost either."

"What are we going to do, Lydia?" Viola asked apprehensively.

"We'd better go through the door on the right."

The door was locked and it seems that the house also cancelled out Percy's extreme strength, as the cat boy couldn't force the door even though he tried.

"I see a spice rack and a book right behind the ghost," Lydia said, "maybe we'll get some clues."

"And the ghost?" said Viola, frowning.

"If he had wanted to hurt us, he would have attacked us already. The ghost is trapped in a loop of reasoning, a repetitive task that will not interrupt it until an external factor exits the loop, so we should not talk to him or touch him."

The three boys nodded nervously and went to the back of the narrow kitchen. There was not much room between the ghost and a table, but they managed to get to the spice rack very carefully.

The spice rack was ordinary and they could not see anything out of the ordinary.

"We'd better read the book," Viola suggested, as she read the title of the book: dining with aristocrats.

"People of power and wealth have long enjoyed the silverware dinner."

"Using utensils so difficult to clean, they could employ servants to demonstrate their wealth."

"Also, the silverware changes color on contact with the poison, which makes it very useful."

"I don't think there's anything useful in this book," said Percy sadly.

"The book actually gives us a clue as to what we should do next," said Lydia. "Since there are no silver utensils on the shelf or anywhere else in the kitchen, all we have to do is talk to the ghost."

"Are you sure?" asked Viola.

"Yes, but we have to interpret the poster notice in a different way. If we offer our help, that is to say, if we offer to "give him a hand", the ghost will surely want to cut off our hand and who knows what else. Viola, give me the teddy bear's arms."

Viola passed Lydia the doll's arms and then the Gothic girl approached the ghost and without a word put the doll's arms on the cutting board.

"Oh thank you, I needed a hand or two," said the ghost, "let me thank you."

A silver spoon had just materialized next to the cutting board. Lydia grabbed the utensil and without a word left the kitchen with her friends.

"I don't think with this key we can open the door inside the kitchen," Lydia said thoughtfully, "all we can do is use the spoon with the skull shaped bowl."

The boys went to the table and Lydia put the spoon in the bowl. Almost immediately, the poison changed from a green to a dark color.

CLICK.

"What do we do now? We give this to the ghost to drink, maybe now it's some kind of wraith poison," asked Viola.

"I don't think so," Lydia reasoned, "we just heard a noise like the sound of a door lock unlocking. We'd better go back to the kitchen and try to open the door."

CRASH.

As the boys headed for the kitchen, a bottle of wine on their shelf suddenly fell to the floor.

The kids went into the kitchen and this time they were able to open the door, but not before a bunch of black mice fell to the floor and ran around scared.

Percy couldn't take it anymore and started chasing the mice.

"Stupid cat," shouted the ghost suddenly when Percy bumped into him, "you can't even catch a few simple mice. I know what to do with you, there's more than one way to skin a cat. Come on, I'll put you in the pan."

"Percy, hurry up, let's go this way!" Lydia shouted.

A pair of invisible knives approached the boys as they brushed against each other to sharpen themselves.

The three friends crossed the door and closed it just in time in the "nostrils" of the ghost, which no longer dared to pursue them.

"Ah, ah... this cat is a fool," said Viola, while taking a breath.

"I'm sorry, Lydia, Viola."

"Don't worry, Percy. We'd better take the bleachers upstairs."

Arriving on the landing where the bleachers led up to the top floor, for a second the boys saw the image of Ellen, but the image faded almost immediately.

"Was that Ellen?" Lydia asked, and Viola nodded her head as her only answer, while she frowned and gave a hard look.

The three of them continued up the steps and reached a corridor that was darker than the corridor below.

"This place is more neglected than downstairs," said Lydia, "look at all the cobwebs."

The children continued to move forward and passed by a door to get close to the light and in the middle of two candlesticks that did not illuminate the place, there was a medieval armor and next to it, a black cat.

"An ornamental decorative cat... I caught you," said the black cat in a funny way.

"How did you get here before us?" wanted to know Percy.

"There are many openings between the walls," said the black cat, "it is very uncomfortable to go through there, but there is no other way."

"And why don't you come with us? That would be more comfortable," said Percy.

"...No, I'd rather go at my own pace."

"We'd better try our luck with the back door," Lydia suggested and everyone nodded.

Behind the door there was a narrow corridor that seemed not to belong to the structure of a second floor, since the floor was made up of cobblestones more suitable for a street or an underground cellar, and so it looked that place since they soon arrived at what seemed to be a cellar that surely saw better times, as one and another barrel of wine was abandoned by the place.

"This whole place is full of cobwebs," said Percy, as he touched one of the cobwebs.

"Look," said Viola, "another sign."

"The spider has bad eyesight, can't even tell colors apart."

"We'd better look for clues so we can get out of the house," Lydia suggested.

Apart from the barrels there was a dusty showcase which did not contribute anything, and next to it, there was a huge web which had captured a huge pale yellow butterfly, which moved its wings wearily.

Percy reached out hisr hand to touch the butterfly but was stopped by Viola.

"Don't do it, it's a trap."

"Viola's right, Percy, let's go back to the corridor."

The three friends retraced their steps, nervous because an evil mist was present all over the place.

As they walked through the door, a huge black and red striped spider, as big as a horse, peeped its head out from behind the huge web in the corner of the cellar.

The gigantic, monstrous-headed arachnid fixed his horrible, bald face on his precious prey. The butterfly barely moved and the movement of its wings seemed to hypnotize those milky eyes that looked at it.

The spider's jaws brushed against each other in the same way the ghost cook's knives had done. But instead of heading for its prey, the monster decided to dive into the darkness waiting for a more appetising prey... and preferably warm-blooded... human blood.

 **CONTINUARA...**

 _Thank you for reading, don't forget to leave your votes and comments, pretty please._


	6. The ghost of the library

**LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH'S HOUSE**

 **Capítulo 6: the ghost of the library and the red skull**

Seeing that the abandoned wine cellar offered them no clue as to how to get out of the house, the three friends went to the room passing the black cat and the medieval armor.

"Lets open the northern gate," suggested Lydia, and Viola and Percy went after her.

As they passed through the door frame, they saw that they had arrived at the library of the old house. The whole room was just as dimly lit as the rest of the place, yet it could be noticed that the floor was made of floor tiles that formed a simple pattern, but had the characteristic of appearing to change its color from beige to ochre, depending on how close the floor was to the light.

"Look, Lydia, there are a lot of books," said Percy, who looked at the small bookshelves that made up a total of eight and were very far apart.

The gilded titles on the back of the books seemed to give off a glimmer of light, a rare sight considering that the enormous room was almost dark.

"There's something on the right," Percy noted.

The library did not have a perfect square surface area; to the southeast it extended a wide bend, but unlike the rest of the room, this sector was disordered. Several books were scattered around the place, some open and others piled up as if to form towers.

"There's another ghost in this place," Lydia said as she approached the pile of books, "I can't see him, but like the cook's ghost, this other ghost casts a faint shadow on the floor."

"Do you think it's wise to approach?" asked Viola.

"We won't talk to him, but maybe there's a clue we can find out," said Lydia.

The three nodded and surrounded the ghost and searched the place.

"Don't touch the books," Lydia warned them.

The three friends could find nothing and when they were about to return to the booksellers the ghost muttered: "Stacking these books is not going well, I need something to tie them together".

"Let's keep exploring," said Lydia and the three of them went to the booksellers.

SPLASH.

A bloodstain appeared on the wall, right in the corner.

"Let's not get distracted, let's go see the books," said Viola, and everyone went to the booksellers.

The books seemed to touch on mundane subjects, but those whose backs emitted soft sparks seemed to have themes of interest to the group.

"Keys don't open doors in the witch's house, something else must serve as a key."

"The shape of the house changes depending on the witch's magic."

"You were right, Lydia," said Percy, "this explains the wine cellar room on the second floor."

"Let's keep looking at more books," said Viola and went to the second row of booksellers with a book called "A funny story"."

"Once upon a time, there was a rich man pushing a wagon full of treasures."

"His wagon broke down in the woods, but a hunter and his dog appeared."

"The rich man begged the hunter to look after his wagon, which the hunter agreed to."

"The rich man went to get a new wagon. Meanwhile, the hunter kept guarding himself."

"Night fell early, and the hunter became increasingly concerned about his elderly mother still at home."

"So the hunter told the dog to watch the wagon and went home to see his mother."

"When the man returned, he saw the dog on guard duty. So he gave the dog a reward for his master, a silver coin, to carry on his snout."

"The dog ran all the way home and brought his master the coin. But the hunter rose in fury."

"I told you to look at the wagon, and what did you do? You stole something from it! So the master killed the dog."

ÑIA, JA, JA, JA, JA, JA, JA.

A witch's laugh came from a corner of the room, as one of the chairs moved back and forth, as if someone invisible were sitting on it and laughing his head off.

As the laughter began, this and the movement of the chair ceased abruptly.

Viola who was angry put the book back in its place abruptly.

There was only one more bookcase to explore. The books were not of much interest, but in the middle of them were some clippings from a very old newspaper, many of the letters could no longer be read.

"Day... residence consumed by fire... and his wife... was found dead among the remains."

"Their bodies were found with stabbing marks, so they are suspected of being killed and the building burned down."

"Also,... Ellen the only daughter (about seven years old) is missing since the fire. The police..."

"That's all the newspaper clippings say," said Lydia, "I don't think we can find anything else of interest here."

The kids came out of the library and went to the door right in front of them.

The room seemed to correspond more to a room on the ground floor than on the floor where they were located. The walls, unlike the rest of the house, were blue and the floor was ripe with carefully laid pebbles, giving it a much better appearance than the abandoned wine cellar.

In front of the door there were apparently two insectary of a museum nature, as they did not have live insects, but rather dissected insects. The two insectary were both locked up.

"I think we should take the blue butterfly from the insectary," said Lydia.

"You want me to break the glass?" Percy asked her.

"No, if you do, you'll set off a trap," said Lydia. "Remember that the house is challenging us, we must solve this puzzle, let's go to the other side of the room."

The room was divided by a narrow corridor with a low relief picture of a white cat made of wood.

They kept moving along the hallway which split and went up and down, going up and up, found at the end of the hallway a dusty, battered shelf containing a note.

"Rope in the barrel"

Returning back in their footsteps and going to the end of the corridor, they discovered that there was another one, this time there was a painting of a lady with an umbrella by the river. The corridor led to a tiny room that contained only a tall bookcase.

"A book is missing from this bookcase," said Viola.

"What do we do now?" Percy asked.

"Let's go out into the main hallway and go into the back room," Lydia suggested.

As they left the room, the boys went to the left and tried to open the door at the back but it was locked.

"Look," said Percy and then bent down to take a note.

"Save the butterfly."

"Should we take the yellow butterfly?" Percy asked.

"I don't think so," said Lydia, "let's go to the wine cellar and get the rope."

The group returned to the cellar and sought the rope in haste as the fog did not give them much confidence.

"I found it!" Percy said, and they all came out of the wine cellar fast.

"Where are we going now?" wanted to know Percy.

"Let's go back to the library," said Lydia, "I think we should give the ghost the rope."

CLANCH.

On their way to the library they passed the armor holding the spear in front of them and suddenly the arm holding the spear dropped a couple of inches. Everyone jumped out except the black cat who was grooming at the time.

"Come on, let's go," Viola rushed them and they all went into the library.

Lydia approached the ghost and without speaking to him, she only offered him the rope.

"Ah! Are you giving me this?" said the ghost, "Thank you! take this."

Suddenly the rope in Lydia's arms disappeared and was replaced by a hardcover, worn-out book.

The book of death -Lydia read the title.

"The cover of the book looks safe, but I don't think you should read it," said Viola.

"A cursed book can be read if you are in the middle of a pentagram," Lydia told her, "the pentagram drawn on the floor protects you from any evil spell that a book might have. However, you're right, the magic of the house can interfere with the protection of the pentagram."

"The bookseller in the insect room is missing a book," Percy said, "do you think this is it?"

"It's the safest thing," Lydia replied, "let's go back to the insectary."

As they walked through the library door, they saw the armor in the middle of the hallway moving toward the stairs.

"Let's not follow it," Lydia asked, "let's go to the bookseller of the insectary in a hurry."

The children went into the room and walked through the interior corridors of the room until they reached the bookshelf. Once there, Lydia put the book of death in the empty space.

SLISH.

The boys heard a glass lid open, it was one of the insectaries.

"Let's go to the insectary," said Lydia and everyone headed for the place.

Halfway under the lady's picture with the umbrella, Percy stopped the group while his ears moved nervously.

"Do you hear that?" It looks like steps, or rather something bouncing in front of us.

Both Lydia and Viola put their hands by their ears and they too could hear the strange noise.

"Lydia, let's go back to the bookseller," asked Viola and everyone agreed.

The kids waited in the bookshelf but nothing happened.

"What are we going to do, Lydia?" asked Viola.

"What do you think Percy, can you tell us something?"

Percy put on a focused face and his ears rotated to the front hallway.

"Because of the noise, it's big and heavy. The bounces are too fast, whatever it is moves too fast."

"It's a good thing your sense of over-developed hearing has nothing to do with magic," Lydia said. "Viola, I think it's best to confront this thing."

"Are we going to fight whatever's up ahead?" Viola asked incredulously.

"No, we don't have the means to deal with whatever lies ahead. My magical powers were neutralized, and Percy does not possess his extreme strength at this time."

"Then what do you suggest," said Viola.

"We'll have to beat that thing in a race. When he sees us and chases us, we'll lead him to this place, circle the bookshelf and then run down the corridor, remember the ghost of the cook? I don't think the thing up ahead will follow us past the door."

"It's a very risky plan," said Viola, "the bookseller's room is very small, there's no room for error if anyone stumbles..."

"That's why it's best for you and me to pull up our skirts and secure them so that they don't get in the way of our running," interrupted Lydia.

The three friends exchanged glances and seeing that they had no better idea, they decided on Lydia's plan.

Little by little they advanced and suddenly something big like them and red appeared.

It was a skinned head that was bouncing fast towards them. There was no time to waste, without saying a word, the three kids ran like never before in their lives and went to the bookseller.

The huge reddish skull was on their heels and when they reached the bookshelf, they surrounded it. The skull followed them and the three kids rushed to the door, the skull followed them very closely and as soon as the three of them went through the door, they closed this one right on their red face.

"Ugh, we were... saved for very little," said Viola, who seemed to be more tired than Lydia and Percy.

"Percy, go to the door and hear if that thing is still back there."

Percy went to the door and placed his ear against the surface of the door for a few moments.

"I think that thing is gone, Lydia," said Percy.

Lydia frowned, from now on things would get more difficult and she could not guarantee that her friends would survive the other challenges of the house, but they had no choice, they had to gather courage and intelligence to get out of the witch's house.

 **CONTINUARÁ...**

 _Thank you for reading, don't forget to leave your votes and comments, pretty please._


	7. buterflies, cats, frogs and mirrors

**LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH'S HOUSE**

 **Capítulo 7: butterflies, cats, frogs and mirrors**

Once Percy reassured them that he heard nothing on the other side of the door, the group re-entered the insectary room.

They went to the bottom insectary and after opening the glass lid, they took the huge stuffed blue butterfly.

"Let's go to the wine cellar now," said Viola.

"Wait a minute," said Lydia and went to the white cat's picture that had been crooked since they escaped from the red skull, and straightened it up again.

When the boys went out into the hallway, they noticed that the medieval armor had returned to its place.

"How did the armor return to its place?" Percy asked.

"I was dozing and when I woke up, the armor was back," replied the black cat.

"Come on, let's go to the wine cellar," Viola insisted again.

The group entered the wine cellar, the long corridor was still covered by the evil fog and the boys hurried along. Upon reaching the web, Lydia took the butterfly very carefully so that the web would not break or vibrate.

Then she placed the blue butterfly in the web and then they came out of the wine cellar.

The three friends were in a hurry as the corridor gave them a bad feeling when they were in it.

PUM.

A huge gap in the floor opened up just in front of Percy, thankfully the boy used his natural catboy reflexes and did not fall down the black opening.

"Percy, are you all right?" Lydia asked worried.

"Yes, don't worry, Lydia."

"Let's get out of here!" Viola rushed them, and the gothic couple had no choice but to continue the fast walk.

The boys arrived in the hallway and the pale yellow butterfly flew out of Lydia's hands.

Percy, pulled on by his instinct and thanks to his catboy reflexes, caught the insect in mid-flight.

"Nyajaja, I got you."

"Percy, let go of the butterfly," said Lydia.

"But Lydia, she looks so pretty," said Percy, who poached and looked at the gothic girl with her big, black eyes, which rivaled her girlfriend's in beauty.

"Okay, but it will be your responsibility," Lydia agreed, and then Percy put the butterfly on the side of her head.

"It looks like you have a female Percy hair ornament," Lydia said to him, as she watched the butterfly flap its wings next to one of Percy's ears, "I think the butterfly decided to stay in your hair."

"Let's keep looking for clues," said Viola frowning, when they heard a sound like the sound of a door knock unlocking.

The kids went to the sound source and observed halfway down the main corridor that the black cat was gone.

The group continued their march and opened the door that had previously been closed. After this, they found a short, elbow-shaped corridor and opened the door that led upwards.

There were stairs leading up to the top floor and just in front of these there were about three sacks.

"How strange," said Lydia, "what will these sacks be?"

When Lydia extended her arm to one of the sacks, Percy hissed strongly as he bristled his tail and the hairs on the back of his neck.

"What's wrong, Percy!" Lydia exclaimed, surprised to see Percy's reaction, who at the time was pulling out his fangs like a vampire.

"Trust me, don't touch those things and don't step on them!"

Lydia insisted again on what was happening to her friend, but the catboy, stubborn, only shook his head fast.

"This is useless," said Viola, "we'd better listen to the cat and go upstairs."

"...All right," said Lydia.

The group continued up the stairs and on the landing they saw another pile of sacks, many more and up the stairs there were other sacks, as many as on the landing.

When they reached the top floor, they saw that they were in a short but wide corridor that did not match a third floor. The floor was made of huge stone tiles and the walls were made of rectangular stones.

Near the corner there was a white wall candlestick for being silver and behind it, there was a large sticky blood stain that came in and covered much of the floor under the candlestick.

"Hey!" They were surprised by the black cat, which was waiting for them at the scene.

"Tell me..." Lydia wanted to ask about the bags, but she was interrupted by the black cat.

"You better listen to your friend, it's best not to know," he said as he began to groom himself, "by the way, you'd better hurry up, but not in a straight line."

The group went to the front door and when they opened it they discovered that they were in a very long corridor, much longer than the corridor of the abandoned wine cellar. Two silver candlesticks on either side of the entrance illuminated the place and a very long red carpet with elegant decorations and an intricate gold frame spread out in front. A Persian carpet was placed as a moquette as it covered the entire surface of the floor.

"Wait," said Lydia, who was in front, "we'd better stick to the wall."

The group continued to advance and heard a sharp noise.

FLUT.

A knife flew at full speed right down the middle of the corridor, lucky the kids were stuck to the wall.

"Let's hurry the pace like our friend told us behind us," said Lydia, and the group rushed off.

FLUT, FLUT, FLUT, FLUT.

Three knives were flying towards them, but from behind!

"Hurry up, hurry up!" Lydia shouted, "Avoid them!"

It's a good thing the girls decided not to loosen their skirts, otherwise they wouldn't have made it.

"Ugh," said Viola, "we did it."

The group had arrived at a corridor that looked similar to the first corridor on the third floor, the huge stone tiles stretched down the corridor and the walls were bluish-gray stone.

"Girls look," Percy pointed to the long corridor behind the group, but the red carpet corridor was gone. You could only see the narrow corridor of the entrance and behind it, the stairs containing the mysterious sacks.

"It changed the configuration of the house," said Lydia, when she saw another sack at her feet, this one, unlike the others, had a big tear on one side and something was sticking out of it.

"A dead cat!" Lydia shouted, "It's small." Each of the sacks has dead cats inside.

Lydia covered her mouth while Percy bristled her tail. Viola, for her part, looked at the sack with a frown.

The group decided to march forward and saw a silver candlestick next to a table with a vase next to the entrance to the corridor, and next to the black cat, who was looking at them amusingly.

"Hey, this is the witch's house. You knew that, didn't you?"

Next to the cat was another door, but they couldn't open it.

"Let's try our luck with the door at the entrance to the corridor," Lydia suggested.

As they passed through the door they came across an inner fountain where a frog was resting.

"Excuse me," said Lydia, "are you the frog who came looking for his lost son?"

"Oh yes, it's me."

"Your wife asked us to meet you at the house. She and your children are very worried about you."

"Really? Wow, I didn't realize so much time had passed, it's so relaxed in this place."

"Mister, the best thing is if you comes out of the fountain," Lydia said, "it seems to me that the water in the fountain somehow clouds the reason."

"I see, no wonder I'm so happy. I'm supposed to be busy looking for my missing son."

"Your son is fine, mister," Lydia told him, "we met your wife, she and your whole family is waiting for you outside the forest."

"Wow, thank you so much for telling me."

Lydia invited him, and then the frog jumped happily on Viola's shoulder.

"I like your golden hair very much," flattered the frog.

"Let's continue down the hall," said Viola without flinching and the boys left the room.

As they walked down the aisle, they saw that it disappeared in a fall from which the bottom could not be seen.

"Look, there's a cable pulling over the abyss," Percy said, "on the other side there seems to be a toggle switch. Maybe I could cross it."

"Percy remembers that you can't become a cat," Lydia reminded him, "and I doubt if the black cat wants to help us."

"And the frog?" Viola said.

"Mister, could you help us?" Lydia asked him.

"Of course, wait for me a moment," the frog gave in and then crossed over thanks to the cable to the other side.

Making an effort the frog moved the lever and then returned to the group.

"Maybe the door is already open," said Lydia and everyone went to the hall door.

Ellen's figure appeared in the hallway approaching. Everyone was surprised, but just as the apparition suddenly made its presence felt, it vanished into thin air.

"Is that Ellen?" Percy asked.

"Yes, she was Ellen," said Viola, "let's go to the door."

As they passed through the entrance, they saw that they had arrived at a very large living room, which had a ceramic floor with an imitation rhomboid pattern parquet flooring. The living-dining room had two semi-tubiques on its vertical half, which seemed to divide the room in two, since on the west side there were the same number of tables, chairs, showcases, crockery, paintings and others as on the east side.

Next to the north wall, there was another sign.

"Make a mirror image."

"What does the sign mean? "Percy asked.

"I think we should move all the elements present in this room so that the east and west sides look like their reflection in a mirror."

"That's a lot of things," Percy said, "it's going to take a long time."

"Then it's best to start," interrupted Viola.

Lydia looked apprehensively at the room and then set to work with the others.

How crazy to put things in place! Not only were the elements visible, but also the ones inside the bookshelves and display cabinets. You also had to put the same number of roses in each vase and put a plush doll in a chair, fortunately, the doll was shaped like a frog so they put Mr. Frog in the chair that represented his reflection.

"That's it," Lydia said, "the hidden switches in the pictures were a challenge, but I finally got the pictures with the image that reflects them to each other. Now all we have to do is take the sign off the wall."

CLICK.

The group heard the safety of a door unlocking and decided to leave through the east door of the living room.

"Don't forget me!" The frog reminded them and he jumped towards Viola, who reluctantly put it in her pocket.

"We've wasted enough time in this room already," Lydia thought. "I don't know if the time inside the house runs differently than outside."

Lydia frowned, and along with the others moved on to continue challenging the haunted house, which she did not wish to let her guests out once they were present in the depths of her innermost womb.

 **CONTINUARÁ...**

 _Thank you for reading, don't forget to leave your votes and comments, pretty please._


	8. Frog sacrifice, cat's blood

**LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH'S HOUSE**

 **Capítulo 8: frog sacrifice, cat's blood**

After the late challenge of putting the living room as a reflection of its east and west sides, the group walked through the door and found themselves in a small room that had the same floor as the previous enclosure.

The small room consisted of an elegant desk on a red carpet, and beside the desk and glued to the wall was a sign that prayed:

"Go through the next door and don't let anything distract you."

"There's a diary on the desk," said Lydia, who took the diary that was open and was right in the middle of the lamp and the flower vase.

The little diary was very badly treated as many of its pages were burned and many of the notes written there could not be read.

"My mother and father didn't love me."

"So I'll..."

"I've been in this house ever since."

"What do we do now, Lydia?" Percy asked.

"According to the note," Lydia said, "as soon as we walk through the door we have to keep moving forward no matter what."

"What will the trap be this time?" asked Viola.

The note could have warned us of a particular danger but it didn't," Lydia reasoned, "that means that the danger we'll see won't be real. The danger is to stray from the path, we will surely find one or more illusions in front of us that will try to frighten or tempt us, so whatever happens, we must go in a straight line and without turning around to look back or to the sides.

"Then we'd better go in single file and hold each other's shoulders one after the other."

"I'll take the lead," Percy offered.

"Better not," said Lydia, "the house can show you an elusive mouse and your instinct could force you to run after it. You'd better get in the middle, Viola will go ahead and I'll go at the end to make sure nothing distracts you Percy."

The kids agreed and walked through the door.

The next environment consisted of the same long, carpeted corridor as the previous time. It was obvious what they would find next.

The image of a dagger was going to them, but as they had agreed before, they kept running forward no matter what, and indeed, the dagger turned out to be just an illusion.

Near the end of the hall were two entrances on either side of the carpet. The kids could see out of the corner of their eye some fine furniture and other things.

"Don't get distracted, let's go on," Lydia reminded them and the kids walked through the door at the end of the hall.

On the other side of the door they found a small room that had the already known huge stone tiles and bluish rectangular stone walls.

"Oh, we made it, girls," Percy said, "look, there's a note on the floor."

"He's hungry."

"You know, I'm not so excited anymore," Percy said, as he held his tail to his nervousness.

"There's only one door other than the one we already went through," said Lydia, "Percy, can you hear what's behind this one?"

"There's something behind it, it's like it's crawling," Percy told them, "I see that there's a kind of peephole, I'll see if I can open it."

"I see like scales and..."

PUM.

Something was knocking on the door, with such force that it made this of its hinges move, fortunately these did not yield.

"HISSS" Percy hissed as he bristled his tail and the hairs on his neck.

"Percy, are you all right?" Lydia asked worried.

"Yeah, it just freaked me out a little bit. I think it's a snake, but a very big one."

"And now, what do we do?" asked Viola.

"o have shaken the door like that," said Lydia, "it must be a snake as big as an anaconda. We have nothing to confront such a monster with."

"Why don't we go ask my comrade?" Percy suggested.

"That black cat is not going to help us in the least," said Viola, frowning.

"It's worth a try," said Lydia.

"Well, come on," said Percy.

"That cat doesn't inspire the slightest confidence in me. I'm staying," said Viola.

"But Viola," said Lydia, "it's dangerous to separate. Remember that the house can change its structure at will, the best thing is to stay together."

"I don't think the case will change until we solve this puzzle," answered Viola, "ask that black cat. I will remain here.

Lydia kept trying to convince Viola, however, she was very stubborn, not only in consulting the black cat, but also in leaving the room.

"All right," said Lydia, "you can stay Viola, but at the slightest sign of danger you come running to us."

"Done."

Lydia and Percy carefully opened the door to the carpeted corridor and saw that just like the other time, the corridor in question had disappeared and in its place was the small room with the elegant desk and the small burnt-out diary of the witch on it.

They both went to the black cat and asked for help.

"Are you sure you have no idea whatsoever about this?" Lydia said to him.

"Nop."

"This is ridiculous," Percy told him, "we can no longer call you `black cat' my bro, how about... kurokawai."

"No, I don't think so," replied the black cat as if he had been insulted.

"Well, thanks anyway, Mr. Black Cat," Lydia said sadly.

"Maybe you can give me a name," said the black cat to Lydia.

"...What about... Kira?"

"Kira, yes, I like that name. You can call me Kira."

Lydia and Percy said goodbye to Kira, the former feral cat and now semi-domesticated, thanks to the name Lydia gave him.

"What do we do now?" Percy asked worried.

"I've only got one idea, Percy. Let's go to the sack with the dead cats."

The kids went to where the sack was semi-darked and Lydia picked it up. The blood stained the goth girl's school uniform, but she didn't flinch.

"I hope this is enough," said Lydia as she frowned.

"Let me do this, Lydia," offered Percy, and then he grabbed the sack and the two kids went back to Viola's.

"Viola," said Lydia, as she walked into the room with Percy, "I think it occurred to me..."

Viola looked at the two boys in surprise, but then her face calmed down, although her eyebrows were furrowed.

"Viola, what did you do?" Lydia asked when she saw the blonde's fingers.

The girl with blue eyes and golden braids, her fingers were covered in blood.

"Why is there blood in the peephole at the door?" Percy asked, and Lydia then opened her eyes like plates.

2There was no other way," said Viola, "the frog lord offered himself and..."

"And that's why there's blood on your hands!" Lydia yelled at her.

An awkward silence fell on the place and no one dared to break it or make eye contact.

"I just wanted to have... to be with my family," said Viola, who was about to sob.

Lydia took the sack with the dead cat and hugged it. Lydia's cheek was covered in blood but that didn't matter, then she put the sack on the floor.

"You're right," Lydia said in a neutral voice, "we must continue."

Percy took out his handkerchief and lovingly wiped his girlfriend's face, and once it was finished, the boys walked through the door.

Once the boys walked through the door, they found themselves in a room with no lighting and a floor of rotten boards. In one corner of the gloomy room, there was an opening that smelled of blood.

Lydia turned her face and went to the front door, when she opened it, the figure of the frog lord appeared behind her, but when Lydia turned around, she could only see an image of bloody guts all over her field of vision.

"Hurry up, Lydia!" Percy shouted at her as he pushed her out of the room.

"Mr. Frog..." whispered Lydia.

The boys saw that they were in an L-shaped corridor, next to the door there was a small brown carpet and the rest was a dark parquet floor and a wall of medium white bricks.

As they turned down the hall, they saw that it had several snowy statues of anthropomorphic cats, all of them on white pedestals that emulated dwarf Ionic columns, as in ancient Greece. Above each statue and glued to the wall, there were very white silver candlesticks that illuminated the white wall in an ethereal but not very strong way.

There was no statue on one of the pedestals, only the black cat was sitting flirtatiously.

"A cat statue... I'm just kidding," said the newly appointed Kira.

Since the spirits were low in the group, the kids did not want to have any conversation with the black cat and passed by.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" Kira shouted to them as she leapt in frustration over the pedestal.

At the end of the hall and to the right was another door, and when they went to open it, the head of the statue closest to them began to spin around as if it were possessed.

"Poor Mr. Frog," Percy muttered, this time unafraid of grief, and with Lydia and Viola, he walked through the door.

On the other side of the door there were dimly lit bleachers, in fact they were, but the source of the lighting seemed to be a dim, dark red light.

After climbing the steps the children saw that there was another sign in front of the wall.

"Go where only one eye is open"

The boys looked to their right and saw that a corridor apparently formed of a long sheet of metal stretched out in front of them. The walls were very high and were apparently plastered with pale red stucco.

There were no pictures or decorations on the wall, except for three huge faces made up of only the eyes and mouth. All three faces had their mouths wide open as if they were screaming or gobbling up their victims.

"Nowhere is there only one eye open," said Viola, who finally cut out the uncomfortable silence, "the first two faces have their eyes closed and the third has them open.

"I don't understand this, Lydia, I don't know what to do," said Percy, faced with the difficulty of the puzzle.

"Just go to the middle of where the second and third faces are," Lydia explained, "there's only one eye open there."

"And the entrance?" asked Percy.

"I'm sure It'll turn up," said Lydia.

Where the bare wall used to be, now there was another entrance that had the same shape as the open mouths of the other faces.

"Nya, Lydia, you're amazing!"

"Are you sure we should go in this way?" Viola asked apprehensively.

"Yes, there is no other solution, we must continue."

The three kids gathered courage and entered through the "open mouth", as one of the huge eyes drawn on the wall moved to see the group move into the open jaws and from there into the beast's entrails.

 **CONTINUARÁ...**

 _Thank you for reading, don't forget to vote and comment, pretty please._


	9. The music box

**LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH'S HOUSE**

 **Capítulo 9: The music box**

The horrible mouth painted on the wall connected to a very narrow, low passageway. Lydia and the others had no choice but to crawl over the cold metal floor.

The kids reached the end of the passageway, which opened to form a small room with the same metal floor. In front of them there was a door and next to it there were openings in the floor where metal spikes came out at regular intervals.

"If we had gone another way," Percy said, "we would have ended up impaled."

The three kids exchanged nervous looks at the prospect and then decided they had no choice but to open the front door.

Right in front of the door was a mysterious note.

"Make sound in all four rooms."

"Another puzzle," said Lydia, when in that, coming out of the shadows of a corner, came out Kira, the black cat.

"Hello, this room is very quiet."

Except for the wall with the three horrible painted faces, this room was the most dimly lit so far. The floor was made of dark brown parquet and the walls were upholstered in navy blue, an elegant combination, but not very effective when it came to giving the room a natural shine.

At the front of the room was a slightly narrower corridor and in this there were four gas lamps that were off at the time.

"Lydia, what's that?" Percy pointed to the statue that was right next to the door.

"It looks like a nutcracker doll but it's life-size," replied the gothic girl as she tiptoed to see the nutcracker's eyes better.

"You don't think the dummy's trying to attack us when we try to get through the door, do you?" Viola said nervously.

"I don't think so," Lydia replied, "remember that the house doesn't want to restrict us, it wants to challenge us."

After getting some air, the three kids opened the door and found a room that seemed to have a white marble floor. There were several elegant chairs against the walls and all of them directed to the center of the room, where there was an elegant red Persian carpet with a golden frame; and above it, an elegant grand piano in the color of ebony; besides, next to the piano, there was a very expensive vase with a sumptuous arrangement of flowers.

"Look, another note," said Lydia.

"You don't need to touch."

"It's a shame you can't play the piano, Lydia," Percy said, "you know how to play musical instruments."

"Can you play the piano?" Viola asked her.

"Among other things," Lydia replied, "at Miss Shannon's school I wanted to form a band for the school festival."

"The Brides of Frankenstein," Percy recalled, "it's a shame you didn't want to be the vocalist. With your beautiful voice, it's a waste not to sing."

"I'm very embarrassed to sing in front of the others, Percy. Besides, the girls wouldn't help me."

"How's that?" asked Viola.

"Bertha and Prudence, I thought they were my friends, but in the end..."

"These idiots betrayed Lydia," Percy continued, seeing that Lydia was silent. "After going with Lydia to the Peaceful Pines cemetery, they told Lydia they would be her friends, but guess what, Claire showed up and gave them a choice as to whether they preferred her or Lydia."

"They said they'd be your friends, but then they left with that Claire girl?" Viola said and then looked at Lydia as if she were seeing her for the first time.

"They told me they weren't that strong," said Lydia with a sad smile and look. "Well, it doesn't matter. As for the singing, I just need to sing for you, Percy."

"When we get out of here, sing me the trout song," asked Percy.

"You always like to hear that song when you eat," replied Lydia as she stroked the cat boy's face and he rubbed his face sweetly against the long, soft, snowy fingers of his girlfriend's hand.

"There's a bookcase in a corner," said Viola, who frowned again.

"People have different eye colors."

"We know the following about women in this particular region."

"A woman's eye color depends on her hair."

"The four hair colors are silver, black, gold and red. The four eye colors are brown, green, blue and red.

"Women with silver hair have red eyes, and women with brown eyes may have blond or red hair."

"If this is a puzzle, I have no idea what to do next," Viola sighed in frustration as she closed the book.

"The northern door can't be opened," said Lydia, "it's best to go back and try our luck with the door next to the corridor of the nutcracker."

The kids returned to the corridor and fortunately the door was not locked.

Apparently they went into a meeting room. A small carpet was just in front of the entrance and to his right was a dressing table whose mirror clearly reflected the image of the three kids.

The floor was made of parquet, but unlike the main corridor, this was not huge, but rather small, ordinary, dark brown parquet.

In one corner of the room there was a display case and as the kids passed by, a dark image was reflected on the glass and moved at full speed to the other side.

"What was that?" Lydia asked.

"I don't know," Percy said, "it happened very quickly."

The children continued to walk around the huge room and saw that it had furniture upholstered in red, as did the walls.

As in the other environments, there was a note here as well.

"Play the music box with twelve."

"There's the music box," said Viola.

"Until we are sure what to do, it is best not to touch it," Lydia warned.

"On the other side there is another door," said Percy, and the kids decided to go to the door, which was not locked.

The boys arrived at another small room which, like the meeting room, had a normal parquet floor and red upholstered walls. On the north side, there was an elegant fine mahogany desk, which was lit by a golden wall sconce.

"Another diary," said Lydia when she saw the fragment of the witch's burnt diary.

"I... all the friends who came to my house after that."

"They were all eaten by the house. But it wasn't enough."

In the middle of the room there was a stool and above it, one of those toys that consisted of those slingshot dolls that came out as soon as you opened the lid.

"It's a Jack in the box," said Lydia, "the toy made a noise, maybe another part of the puzzle was triggered."

When the boys came out the door, the toy turned its torso to watch them walk away.

The kids now headed for the door next to Kira, the black cat, and entered the next room.

The room had elegant walls upholstered in navy blue and just in front of the entrance was a small, exquisitely elegant purple Persian rug with a silver frame. The rest of the floor was carpeted by a red carpet as a moquette as it covered the entire extension of the floor, but the carpet had no frame of any kind.

To the left of the door there was a large cerulean vase with several snowy flowers, some lilies and next to it and stuck to the wall, there was another sign.

"The blue eyes see the marker."

"Why is there a pumpkin head like Halloween in this place? "Percy asked, seeing the orange pumpkin with a sculpted face very close to the sign.

"It must be another part of the puzzle," said Viola as she pointed ahead as there were other pumpkin heads in the place.

The rest of the furniture was upholstered in violet as well as another small Persian carpet identical to its twin in the entrance, and which was next to another door which was flanked on both sides by four paintings of La Mona Lisa. The replicas had different hair and eye colors.

Suddenly the painting with the blonde Mona Lisa fell to the floor making a sharp noise and frightening the group.

"That gave me an idea," Lydia reasoned, "the dry sound of the painting falling on the carpet can be emulated by the pumpkins, they are hollow after all. Percy, hit the pumpkins trying to make a musical note."

Two of the pumpkins didn't sound very good, but the one closest to the squares rang harmoniously according to Percy's tapping.

Lydia's idea bore fruit as the door next to the paintings opened by itself.

As they crossed the door, the kids found a room with a floor made of ochre-coloured paving stones. The room seemed empty with the exception of a chair on the right and a flowerpot with a plant on the left; next to the front wall there were four elements: a full-length mirror; and at the opposite end an old pendulum clock in its tower; in the middle of these were two statues; one of a man and one of a woman.

And right in the middle of the north wall was another note.

"I can be the sun. I can be the earth. And I can be a bird."

"What am I?"".

"I can even be a flower."

"What am I?"".

"What about now?" said Viola with a dismayed gesture, and she wasn't the only one as Percy looked confused and scratched his head anyway.

"Because of the elements sun and earth," Lydia told them, "we must go towards the clock."

The gothic girl went to the front of the clock and asked it what its nature was and the clock asked her:

"Am I a watch?"

Lydia nodded and the remaining elements in the room disappeared, leaving the old watch as the only furniture present, and in front of it, a queen key had materialized that was taken by Lydia.

"What will this key open?" Percy asked.

"Remember that the keys don't open any doors in this place," said Lydia, "the best thing to do is to read the note on the wall again, because next to the clock, it's the only thing that hasn't disappeared."

""Sun: sundial; sand: hourglass; bird: cuckoo clock."

Let's go to the meeting room," Lydia explained, "the musical box says it should be played with twelve, that is, with the key that the watch gave us."

The kids went to the room and inserted the key into the music box, which played a Gothic melody and the image of Ellen appeared for a second at the scene.

As the boys left the room, a teapot and a garment from the hanger fell to the floor, and the reflection on the dresser showed the blood-drenched faces of the kids.

 **CONTINUARÁ...**

 _The author's final notes: "Frankenstein's girlfriends", was the death rocker band, by Lydia in the cartoons; something curious, since in the original script of the beetlejuice film, Lydia is not a Gothic girl, but a death rocker._

Bertha and Prudence's cowardice comes from the comic "the witch from Peaceful Pines" by Midori Mizurashi. Comic book that unfortunately was never finished...snif


	10. Blue marble statue

**LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH'S HOUSE**

 **Capítulo 10: Blue marble statue**

The puzzle of the four rooms and the sound in each of them was far from over so Lydia and her group headed towards the room of the replicas of the Mona Lisa.

Following the instructions in the note, they went to one of the paintings that seemed to be looking at them severely, despite the enigmatic smile they possessed.

"If the blue eyes see the marker," Lydia reasoned, "then the picture of the Mona Lisa with black hair will show us where the rest of the puzzle is."

Lydia went right to the front of the painting and turned until she saw the south wall.

"There must be whatever it is that we must find."

The kids went to the south wall and right in that place and in front of the painting of the black-haired Mona Lisa, there was a crack in the wall, and there was a piece of paper on it.

"I think it's a musical score," said Percy, and then his ears turned back.

A spectral figure was going towards the group, it was the image of the Mona Lisa, but this one exhibited a gloomy face with empty mouth and basins.

"What's that!" Percy shouted.

"Run away!" Lydia shouted and everyone surrounded the furniture in the room to put some distance between them and the spectrum.

"The door won't open!" Lydia shouted, seeing her efforts to open the locked door to no avail.

"Let's go to the painting!" shouted Viola and the group followed her.

"Percy breaks the frame!" Viola ordered, and Percy did so.

The dark specter disappeared as it melted into the prevailing darkness of the room within walking distance of the boys.

"That really scared me," Percy said, as he went over to Lydia and hugged her, "are you all right?"

Lydia nodded and the group left the room.

The group was in the main hallway when Ellen was heading towards them!

Ellen's image faded in a blink of an eye within inches of them, causing them a scare.

As they walked towards the door next to the soldier nutcracker, they saw that two of the gas lamps were on, although this did nothing to improve the poor lighting of the place.

As they walked through the door, the first thing they saw was the grand piano, it was obvious what they should do next.

Lydia carefully put the musical score on the piano and suddenly the piano began to play a melody on its own, the piano keys pressing on their own as if an invisible pianist was playing the piece of the score.

The beautiful vase with the sumptuous floral arrangement vibrated and then a key materialized in front of it.

"I know what to do with this key," Lydia said resolutely and the group went out into the main hallway. Now, the third gas lamp had been lit.

The group entered the room with the paintings and as they approached the north door, a woman's face appeared just behind the shattered painting of the Mona Lisa.

"We better hurry," Viola suggested and the group walked through the door.

"With this key I'll start the old clock," said Lydia, "Percy, help me with that chair."

All right," said the catboy and put the chair right in front of the clock tower and Lydia got on this one. Then, using the key, the Gothic girl started the clockwork and the old clock started to sound its characteristic sound, while the pendulum was already moving rhythmically.

CLICK.

The sound of the lock of a door unlocking again was heard in the distance and the group decided to leave the room and head for the main corridor.

Amidst the beautiful lilies by the door, the ghostly face of a woman appeared. It was as white as the flowers and the hair was being covered with a veil of snow.

When they went to the north door of the main hall, they could see that the four gas lamps were already lit.

PUMB.

The life-size doll of the nutcracker fell apart when the group opened the door.

"The north door should be unlocked by now," Lydia told the others and the kids left the piano room and entered a new room.

The new room consisted of a floor of machimbre; the long boards had a strange blue color that seemed to come from the underworld and matched the navy blue walls of the enclosure.

There was no furniture except for the statue of the woman they had found in the clock room.

When Viola approached the statue she began to whisper.

"My ring... it's not here."

"It must be another part of the puzzle in the house," said Percy, who was looking at the statue.

On the north wall were two stained glass windows that did not show a particular pattern or drawing and were separated from each other.

When the group approached the stained glass windows, the wall in the middle of them and at the bottom suddenly collapsed. The new opening led to what appeared to be a secret room.

The small enclosure was very small. The blue tongue and groove and the navy blue walls served as a preamble to the only furniture in the place; a simple desk and behind it, a stained-glass window that did not allow any light to pass through.

On the desk was another part of the witch's burnt diary.

"I don't like being sick. Because he won't let me be outside."

"Because it makes no one love me."

There was nothing else in place and the group went out into the room of the statue of the grieving woman.

KABOOM.

Just as they were preparing to return to the piano room, a roar rang out all over the place. So strong that it even shook the whole room they were in.

"It seems that the house has been restructured again," said Lydia as she opened the south door.

Where the north wall used to be, there was now a chimney. The ashes had been scattered all over the white marble floor and almost touched the carpet on top of the piano.

"Girls," Percy said, "I can see that there are metal supports inside the chimney."

When they approached, they saw that the catboy was right, the metal brackets were holding an iron ladder leading to the lower floor.

"It looks like we have to go down," said Viola.

There was no choice, the group went down the ladder. The darkness was so much that no one could even see the tip of his nose, fortunately the descent was short and they came out of another chimney into a new room.

They had returned to the dining room with the skull shaped bowl. Unlike the last time they were here, the previously poor lighting was now darker if that was possible and they noticed another big difference: on each of the chairs on the large table, there was now the bust of a male figure, whose white marble now had a bluish hue.

The boys went to the south gate but couldn't open it. In that one of the busts caught them against the door but then backed off.

"I don't think either of the two southern gates are open," said Lydia, "the house wants us to take the northern gate."

"Which is the one that leads to the kitchen and the ghost that wanted to kill us," said Viola.

"My powers are gone," Percy said, "I can't fight any ghosts."

"I don't think the house wants to see us sacrificed to the ghost in the kitchen," Lydia reassured them.

The boys, seeing that they had no choice, went to the kitchen door. As they approached some sections of the floor these began to crack suddenly.

After opening the door very carefully, they saw that the ghost was not present, however, there was a pot simmering and next to the spice rack, a door.

"I think we have to go through the door by the spice rack," said Lydia and everyone nodded.

As the door opened, the three of them saw the horror in the pantry.

The entire floor was covered with reddish giblets that apparently came from human remains. In fact, there were a lot of skeletal remains scattered all over the place and not all of them were the same size, indicating that men, women and children found their last rest in the present nightmare.

Lydia put her hands to her mouth as she felt sick and Percy went to help her.

"Despite what I may feel," Lydia said, gathering courage, "we must stay here and look for the next clue."

"Lydia, let me handle it," Percy offered and Lydia thanked him with a nod.

Viola, who was not affected in the same way as Lydia, stayed with Percy in the pantry and searched the remains until they found some gold-colored Oriental-style chopsticks between some ribs.

The two of them left just as one of the remains was moving quickly toward them.

"Look Lydia," said Percy, "Viola and I found these chopsticks."

"Chopsticks," Lydia thought aloud, "we must surely use them with the pot."

Lydia took the chopsticks and after turning off the pot so that the cooking steam wouldn't obstruct her view, she proceeded to look through the unpleasant contents with the chopsticks.

Finally she found what he was looking for: a ring for her middle finger.

"Well, now we must return the chopsticks," said Lydia, "boys, where did you find the chopsticks?"

"Percy found them in the middle of the ribs of a skeleton," answered Viola. "why do you want to return them?"

"For the note," said Lydia, as she passed the note to Viola.

"Return what you took to its proper place."

"I see," said Percy, "I'll take care of it."

The catboy entered the pantry and then returned at the same time as a strange face looked at the group through the window behind the spice rack.

The group could not see the face well as it disappeared behind the frame of the window at the same time as the entire display case of the spice rack went through and with a loud knock blocked the door of the pantry.

"Let's get out of here." said viola and everyone agreed.

SPLASH.

An enormous blood stain in the shape of a hand was suddenly stamped on the wall next to the door leading to the upper floor, which was then closed.

As soon as they crossed the door that connected with the dining room, they felt their hair stand on end and they got goose bumps. An evil entity was lowering the steps of the kitchen and would soon get to them.

Understanding what was happening and without exchanging glances, the boys went to the fireplace with just the right amount of time, as several chairs almost blocked the entrance through the fireplace.

Already on the upper floor, the group noticed that several of the chairs in front of the piano were down.

"Whatever it was, it almost caught us," Percy said, as he clutched his tail with his nervousness.

"At least we have the ring," said Viola.

"Now let's give it to the statue," Lydia finished.

"This... is my ring... thank you."

It was what the statue of the woman whispered in a trembling voice, and then there was the sound of another door unlocking.

"Every time the challenges that the house puts on us are more and more dangerous," Lydia thought worried. "There's no turning back now, we'll have to go ahead and solve all the puzzles... or die trying."

 **CONTINUARÁ...**

 _Thank you for reading, do not forget to vote and comment, pretty please._


	11. Dead end

**LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH'S HOUSE**

 **Capítulo 11: Dead end**

The door of the blue room could be abandoned now that the north door had been unlocked and the group as they crossed it saw wooden steps leading to the upper floor.

CRASH.

A loud sound like a window bursting into a thousand pieces reverberated in the air.

"That noise is not a good omen," Percy said nervously.

"We are inside the haunted house," said Viola, "we are already in a very bad situation."

"Let's go on," said Lydia and everyone went up to a large landing that was made up of a large parquet floor and a bluish stone wall, which was decorated with three stained-glass windows that had no pattern and hardly illuminated the place.

The group climbed back up the stairs and reached the top floor. A medium carpet of ochre colour and beige frame received them, and next to it, there was the main corridor consisting of a large dark blue parquet floor and a wall of blue stones similar to the one on the ground below, with the difference that these were of a larger surface and better placed one over the other so that they did not let a razor blade pass between them.

Like the landing, there were several stained glass windows spaced across the long extension of the wall.

The group was passing through each of the dark stained glass windows when one of them suddenly exploded.

With demonic speed, a sinister shadow landed on the ground, and with a dizzying reflection, it headed straight for the group eager for murder. There was no way out.

In less than a blink of an eye, Ellen's image came between the boys and the evil shadow, and in the same time, both the shadow and Ellen disappeared.

"...Lydia, that really scared me!" Percy shouted and went to seek the comfort of the Gothic girl who was ready to embrace him.

Viola looked at the couple strangely, sometimes Percy was the one who was acting like a macho and trying to protect Lydia, other times he was the one who was vulnerable. These two complemented each other depending on the situation.

"Better get on with it," said Lydia and Percy nodded.

The three kids reached the end of the long corridor and a carpet just like the one they had found just before rested in front of another door.

In the other room they found a room that contained only four tables covered with tablecloths of different colors and on top of them, antique dolls with different colors of dress. All the tables had one doll except for one and in the middle of the four tables just behind them was another door that was locked.

"We have to put each doll on the table with a tablecloth to match her clothes," said Lydia.

 _CLICK._

You could hear the sound that made the kids understand that they could walk through the door and they did.

The configuration of the house changed as they were now not on what would be an upper floor, but rather on the ground floor, in a garden.

In front of the door, a short corridor decorated with columns and arches holding roses gave access to a clearing in which a park bench was located above the green grass. The bench was made of wood with wrought iron supports and on top of it was a porcelain cup and next to it, Kira, the black cat watched the boys approach him.

"Hey," said Kirya happily, "this is the upper floor."

The garden clearing was rectangular with two small plastic rose bushes on each corner and behind the bench was a large tree preceded by a beautiful white flower.

"How are you doing?" asked the flower to the three visitors.

"Good," said Lydia, "can you tell us anything about this place?"

"I don't know much, all my life I've been in the shade of the old tree. Anything you want to know, ask him."

"Thank you," said Lydia and went to the tree.

"Do you... Do you need anything?" asked the tree.

"Yes, you see..."

"...There is nothing I can do for you," interrupted the tree in a tired voice. "…be quiet... oh yes. I must warn you. Don't disturb the timekeeper."

Behind the tree, there were two other small artificial rose bushes in each corner of the clearing and another sign was attached to the wall.

"Birds eat foliage."

In the middle of the two false rosebushes, there was a creeper so hard that it did not allow passage to the short corridor behind it or to the door that it could barely be seen between the hard stems.

"We don't have any pruning shears or anything similar to get to the back door," said Lydia.

To the west of the park bench and the tree, there was a small chalet with a floor of irregular dark brown cobblestones and a brick wall painted white. In one corner there was a showcase and in the middle of the chalet there was a table already served with tea and pastries, but instead of people, yellow flowers were occupying the seats and chatting animatedly.

"Oh wow. You have long arms. Ho, ho, ho, ho."

"Oh, isn't anybody gonna kill that girl?"

"If any of you did... oh, yes. We would share some of our wonderful pollen."

"I'm serious. She's such a pain in the ass."

"And to think that without her, we'd be the most beautiful ones in the garden!"

The flower group continued to cackling without paying attention to the group.

This seems to be from the film Alice in Wonderland," said Percy, who looked at the flowers carefully but couldn't get them to listen to him.

"To the north is a corridor," said Viola, "let's go there."

At the end of the wide but short corridor there was a pendulum clock very similar to the one they met before and on the west side there was a door leading to a small room with a Persian carpet set as a moquette on the floor and on this a desk on the surface of which was another fragment of the witch's burnt diary.

"Then a girl came to play."

"The letters of this entry are written in blood," said Lydia, who continued the reading.

"A pretty girl in golden braids."

"Stop reading," Viola said angrily, and the group came out of the small room as part of the floor seemed to collapse.

In the southwest corner of the chalet and semi-hidden to the dining room table, there were three thigh beds so close together that there was no room between them. However, the beds were not glued to the wall, as there was a bedside table with a lamp on it.

"Let's check the nightstand," Lydia suggested, and the girls found a skull.

As they went to the flowers, they saw that there was another sign on the wall, but this one, unlike the previous ones, was written in blood.

"Kill the flower and you'll die too."

"I think we've reached a dead end," said Lydia after reading the sign.

"Can you think of any ideas?" Viola asked him.

"There's always a plan, we just have to think about it," replied the Gothic girl.

Seeing that there was nothing else to do there, the group went out into the garden again and headed for the eastern sector, where there was a kind of jail. The floor was made up of small irregular cobblestones in disorder and the walls were made up of stones, both the floor and the wall had a marked bluish touch that was very unfavourable to the lighting.

At the entrance and glued to the wall was the guard's desk with a book of prayer: The Talking Flowers.

"The flower ladies are beautiful, and they can talk. Those are their characteristics."

"The white flowers are the most beautiful in the garden. When they are touched by the rain, strangely enough, their petals bloom."

"The red herbs have knowledge. But they always lie, so be careful when you talk to them."

"Yellow flowers are beautiful. The pollen produced by these flowers is a strong medicine that can kill or give life."

To the north of the desk, there was a narrow passage leading to two places: the first, on the right, was blocked by a creeper that was impossible to break at the moment; and the second, led to a prison door whose lock was open.

"Lydia, there's no way we can cross this," said Percy, who saw how in the middle of the room there was a large opening from wall to wall, so deep that the bottom could not be seen and wide enough that he couldn't jump over it.

Returning in their footsteps, the boys returned to the main corridor and advanced to the next door of the jail. But it was padlocked and they kept going east where there was another door, but stopped to read the sign that preceded it.

"Medicine."

"This time they don't give us much information, eh," Percy said.

"Let's try to open the next door," said Lydia.

Like the other barred door, this one was also padlocked.

"Lydia, there's someone inside, a man, it looks like he's moaning!" the cat boy informed the group.

"Are you sure about this?" Viola asked him, because behind the bars there was the deepest darkness, just like the other barred doors.

"Mister..." said Lydia as she approached the door with caution, for no matter how hard she tried, she could not see anything in the darkness.

"Weee... ag... ag... cof... medicine... you... have some?" whispered a whisper that denoted intense tiredness and suffering.

"Wait a minute sir, we'll get you some medicine and get you out of here!" Lydia told him, but she received a spittle of contempt that fortunately did not reach her.

"Lydia, you're okay!" Percy shouted as her tail bristled.

"Yes, don't worry, let's try to find the medicine and a way to free this man."

"Look, there's a big bird cage over there," said Viola.

The bird cage was made of a copper lattice and was very dented. At first they thought the cage was empty, but soon they saw the shadow of a bird flapping its wings.

"Look Lydia, it's a ghost bird."

"I know, let's go down the hall," said Lydia as she frowned at the man and the bird locked in the haunted house.

The three of them reached the end of the corridor and there, sheltered in the shadows, were three groups of red herbs that barely saw the varied group began to speak as if guided by the will of others.

"Do you want to know how to kill a flower?"

"None of the three ways to kill are appropriate. You should just give up on this."

"I've already forgotten the exact way to kill... or cut it up or tear it down."

"Tearing it down and removing it are both ways of killing it."

"The book at the entrance warned us not to trust the red herbs," said Viola.

"I know, we'd better get out of here," said Lydia.

When the group arrived at the guard's desk, they saw that another human skull had appeared on the chair.

"I'll put him with the other one we found in the chalet," Percy offered, and they all came out of jail.

"What do you think is the way to kill the white flower in front of the tree? We must kill her so that the yellow flowers can give us their pollen for the prisoner's medicine," asked Viola...

"We won't kill anyone," Lydia replied in a resolute voice.

Percy looked expectantly at both girls who did not look away and wondered what alternative Lydia would give to the insurmountable situation.

 **CONTINUARÁ...**

 _Thank you for reading, do not forget to vote and comment, pretty please._


	12. Fake petals for conceited flowers

**LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH'S HOUSE**

 **Capítulo 12: Fake petals for conceited flowers**

An impasse had been reached. Both Lydia and Viola held their gaze as none of them wanted to give in regarding the delicate white flower in the garden.

"We have to show the yellow flowers that the white flower is dead," said Viola, "only then can we go ahead and leave the haunted house and escape from Ellen.

"Lydia..." Percy said, as he watched his girlfriend's hard look.

"If you're afraid of what the sign said about us dying if we killed the flower..." said Viola.

"It's not about the sign," Lydia interrupted, "I don't think we should sacrifice an innocent life like you did with Mr. Frog."

"And what else can we do? Ellen put us through this puzzle and we have to solve it. You said it yourself, Lydia, we mustn't break the rules."

"No... this house isn't any smarter. Still won't give up the goth girl."

"You said it yourself, Lydia," Percy said, "there's always a plan, just think about it."

The Goth girl smiled at Percy and then her eyes denoted concentration.

"I have a plan," Lydia said almost immediately, "follow me."

Viola and Percy exchanged glances and decided to go after Lydia.

Lydia, who was leading the group, followed in her footsteps and arrived at the room with the replicas of the Mona Lisa.

The vase cerulean with the beautiful white flowers rested near the entrance, and the ghostly head of the female covered with a snowy veil rested calmly in the middle of them.

"Please, we need your help," said Lydia, "we need some of your white petals. The life of an innocent flower depends on it."

The ghost smiled at Lydia and handed her some of the white petals.

"Thank you very much," the Gothic girl thanked her with tears poking out of her eyes and returned to the garden with the group.

"That was very clever, Lydia," said Percy, proud of his girlfriend."

"Do you think we'll fool the yellow flowers?" asked Viola.

"With a little work we'll make these lily petals look like those of the white flower in the garden."

Lydia, who was skilled at making clothes, had skilled fingers and set to work.

The group went to where the yellow flowers and Lydia with great aplomb gave them the white petals.

"How strange. I didn't hear her horrible cry."

"I didn't hear it."

"I didn't hear it."

"I didn't hear it."

"I covered her with my hands while Lydia killed the white flower," said Percy, with such a face that no one could say he was actually lying.

The yellow flowers suddenly laughed very loudly and the group feared that Percy's deception had not worked.

"As for the pollen..." Lydia said.

"Hmm... ah yes, our promise. Here you go."

Lydia stretched out her arms and on her palms was placed the longed-for pollen that looked like a very fine white powder.

The flowers spoke lively again and Lydia didn't even bother to look back at those wicked ones.

Once the pollen was in their possession, the group returned to the jail and went directly to the sick prisoner.

"I just need a little... please."

Lydia approached the bars and deposited the pollen behind them.

"Hey!... Give me that!"

Instead of a human hand, it was the naked phalanges of a skeleton that took the dust and made everyone in the group open their eyes in surprise.

"...Ah... ah? Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I don't have one... without that one!..."

"Without that I can't use this!"

Frustration from the spectrum shook the enclosure and caused the bird cage to fall to the ground, and as it did so, the lock was opened who prevened the ghost bird from fleeing.

The sound of a flapping of wings surrounded the group and it was lost behind the door leading to the garden.

"Let's go to the vines in the jailhouse," said Lydia and the group followed him.

The creeper disappeared and the boys were able to enter a room. It consisted of a narrow gravel floor corridor and a sign in the middle of it.

"The water is sealed by the skulls."

"I wonder what this might mean," said Percy.

"We'll know when we walk through the door at the end of the hall," said Lydia.

A new puzzle challenged the group. About twenty-one skulls lay on the ground in orderly rows and facing in different directions, and there was a lever on the wall.

"We better look for clues to this new puzzle," Viola suggested and Lydia nodded.

Upon returning to the gravel corridor, the boys saw a vessel and searching inside it they discovered a new skull.

Upon returning to the garden, the children saw that the northern creeper had also been devoured by the invisible bird whose shadow continued to flutter around the place.

"Now we can go through the door," said Percy and was quick to open this one.

It was fortunate that Percy led the march as he did not fall into the trap of the room, which consisted of a poisonous aura that would have killed the group in a matter of seconds.

"The room is poisonous. Pass with discolored shoes" read Percy's ad for a sign in the middle of the room.

"It's a good thing you have that catboy vision," Lydia said to him as she grabbed Percy by the waist so he wouldn't take a step further.

"What do we do now?" asked Viola.

"I don't know, it's too risky to go into the room," said Lydia.

"There are a lot of shelves and other furniture," said Viola.

"Let me do it, Lydia," Percy offered.

"No Percy."

"Lydia, I'm the fastest. I'll search every corner and get out of the room before anything happens to me."

"But the poison..."

"Don't worry, I promise I'll be careful."

Lydia bit her lip for worry, but as her boyfriend said, there was no choice.

Despite Percy's speedy career, the catboy had to go in and out of the haunted room more than once but in the end he had managed to find another skull, an empty bottle and a diary entitled: the skull soldier; which the group then read it in the security of the garden.

"Once upon a time there was a soldier. His country perished, and he died, but he did not realize any of these things."

"Even in death, the soldier patrolled. Starting in the middle of the ruins of the castle, he saw in front, on the right, on the left, in front, on the right, on the left..."

"Well, I know what to do," said Lydia and everyone went to the skull room.

The skulls should be placed there together with the others and, following the track of the book, placed facing in the indicated direction.

In the northwest corner, the skull was to face south, just as in the northeast corner; in the southeast corner, the skull was to face east, and in the southwest corner, the skull was to face west.

Once the task was finished, the boys pulled the lever and shook the place up, preceded the sound of the water flooding a room in the distance.

The group returned to the gravel corridor and the vase in the middle of the corridor broke when it collapsed on itself.

"It's a sign, let's run away!" Lydia shouted, and it was fortunate that the Gothic girl realized the danger as they were able to put distance between them and a giant skull that was going towards them with the intention of devouring them.

Unlike other wraith, the giant skull crossed the door and followed them into the skull room, but thanks to Lydia's warning, they were able to escape from it, yet the skull continued to insist and chase them down the gravel corridor. Fortunately, when they walked through the door that led them into the narrow corridor behind the desk of the prison guard, the monster ceased its pursuit.

The boys went to the north gate and saw that the water had filled the previous gap. A small frog watched them as he swam.

"My father is dead."

"Don't mind him," said Lydia, "I met Mr. Frog's children. All of them are safe on the edge of the forest, this is just an illusion of the house."

"What do we do now?" Percy asked.

Lydia recalled that in the chalet where the yellow flowers were found, there was a small door on the south side.

"We must go to the room on the south side of the chalet," said Lydia.

"But that place is dark," said Viola.

"I know, but I have a plan."

Lydia filled the empty bottle Percy had found in the poisoned aura room with water, and then went to the white flower in the garden.

Lydia asked the flower for one of her petals, the white flower was surprised but gladly agreed after hearing how Lydia with her intelligence and poise had managed to save her life.

Then, the Gothic girl poured the water on the petal, which immediately gave off a glow and then put the petal into the bottle. This way, they already had a kind of hand lantern.

The group then returned to the chalet and went through the south gate.

Lydia's idea had worked, the petal giving off a gentle amber light. It wasn't very bright, but at least they could explore that part of the house now.

"The corridors are very narrow," Lydia told them, "so stay close together."

The kids went south and then turned west, in the middle of the narrow corridor turned north where there was a room and started exploring.

It had varied abandoned and semi-ruined furniture so they returned in their footsteps and as they returned to the narrow hallway, they saw how the white walls on either side of the entrance were stained with blood.

The group continued to advance and to the south, they found several sculptures placed on their pedestals. Advancing down this corridor they turned north as the image of Ellen ran behind them and passed them by at lightning speed.

The compound turned out to be a maze but they found a jade pipe, as they overtook one of the busts that seemed to want to chase them. Fortunately, they lost it while exploring a room full of coffins, but when they returned to the corridor, several blood stains in the shape of the palm of one hand received them in a surprising way.

Returning to the busts, they saw that they no longer had heads and heard one of these approaching them.

"We mustn't stop," said Lydia, and the group returned to the chalet's dining room.

The boys returned to the jail and threw the pipe they had found in the cell of the skeleton.

"...Oh, yes. This one's... mine. It's mine..."

The skeleton vanished and suddenly the next cell door opened. They didn't see anyone, but they heard the sound of footsteps of someone leaving the place.

As they entered the cell they saw a book whose title could not be read, and the book's annotations were so worn that they could not be read either.

At the end of the cell, there was a cloth wrapped around red shoes and behind it was another sign.

"Let them bleed."

"I understand," said Lydia and went to the frog and wiped off the red shoes, which were actually made of glass but bathed in blood.

It seemed that the frog was dying, but she was not fooled because it was not real, but an illusion.

The group returned in their footsteps and as they stood near the door to the garden, they saw how the guard book on the desk began to move.

This was the signal for the boys to flee as the giant skull began to chase them, but like the other time, they took a step back and eluded him as he returned to the garden.

"Now we can use the shoes to get around the northern room," Lydia said, "the problem is that there's only one pair.

The three exchanged glances, until now they had managed to deceive the house but each time the luck seemed more distant.

 **CONTINUARÁ...**

 _Thank you for reading, do not forget to vote and comment, pretty please._


	13. The rose barrier

**LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH'S HOUSE**

 **Capítulo 13: The Rose Barrier**

Lydia, Viola and Percy, stood in front of the north gate of the garden and wondered how they would get around the danger of the room considering they only had a pair of glass slippers.

"Let me try, Lydia!" Percy pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Percy, but I don't think you're going fast in these women's sneakers."

"Then let Viola go!" Percy implored.

"Percy! Don't worry, I'll be safe," said Lydia. "Viola, don't let Percy follow me."

"Okay," Viola nodded, and then Lydia rushed into the room.

To the north of the room with the poison, there was a hallway whose watery floor was so poisonous that it would kill anyone not wearing the glass slippers. In the middle of the race, Percy's body fell from the heights and crashed to the ground, dying instantly.

Lydia narrowed her eyes and forced herself to go faster, sure that what she saw was just another illusion of the house.

The young lady arrived on solid ground near the door. She was already safe, but the glass slippers broke into thousands of pieces.

Fortunately, both of Lydia's feet had her stockings and Percy's along with Viola's for added protection, so her soles were not cut with the glass.

Lydia carefully took off her socks and put her shoes back on which she had taken them with her.

"Well, I guess I'll have to find a way out of this hallway."

Lydia walked through the door and found a small garden and at the entrance to it was Kira, the black cat.

In the center of the garden, there was a thin desk that did not match when exposed to the weather, and above it, another fragment of the witch's diary.

"I didn't kill her because she saved me from my illness."

"So I made her my'friend'."

"What is a "friend" supposed to be?" Kira asked.

"In this case means someone you want to save."

"JE, you are a strong, child of darkness," said Kira, closing his eyes, "you knew from the beginning that..."

Behind the desk there was another door leading to a small corridor that had another door, but Lydia couldn't open this one.

Lydia returned in his footsteps without knowing how to get back through the deadly corridor. However, to his surprise, all the poison in the hallway had disappeared and been replaced by ordinary water.

"Lydia!" shouted Percy, who was running towards her.

"Percy, the poison on the floor is gone."

"How are you, Lydia?"

"I'm fine, although I'm afraid I lost your socks... and yours, Viola."

"Don't worry," said Viola, "did you find anything?"

Lydia told them what she had discovered, omitting the witch's diary.

"What will be behind that door?" Viola asked, pointing to a door that had appeared halfway down the hall.

The group opened the door and found an underground corridor as there were many waterfalls in the area. In the end they found a doll dressed in purple that had no head and took it, and at that moment a lot of insects fell to the wet floor and ran in chaos all over the place.

The group went to the garden door with the desk and to open the door they needed a certain numbering of a key padlock which they found deciphering the clues that were scribbled on the walls of the hall.

"Six, zero, zero, zero, six," Lydia said as she entered the encryption.

"Guys, I think I'll stay here," excused Viola, "since... my mother died I don't like to frequent this kind of place."

"Okay," said Lydia, "stay behind the door until we get back."

The door opened and the two of them entered what looked like the pantry of a clinic, where among other things they found a small bottle.

"Medicine to kill me."

As the group left the compound, the missing head of the wrist they had taken earlier fell to the floor.

"I'll take that thing," said Percy, and he had barely grabbed the head of the doll, huge blood-bloated eyeballs fell to the floor and started chasing the two kids.

The medical pantry was large and the children came through the door so the horrors could not follow them, even though they were knocking furiously at the door from behind.

"I wonder what dogs those things were," said Percy.

"We have to hurry," Lydia told him, and the group returned to the small garden that now had a reddish lawn as if it were covered with blood.

Where Kira, the black cat, was before, there was now only a piece of his coat.

"Kira!" Lydia shouted, "What happened!"

"I wonder too," said Viola, "maybe I should have stayed in the garden."

Lydia knelt down and lamented Kira's fate.

Percy approached Lydia and hugged her as Viola watched.

"Thanks Percy, now let's put the doll's head and her body together."

The entire doll now seemed to have some mobility as her eyes looked at the group around her.

"Lydia, isn't that thing going to hurt us?" Percy asked nervously, because of the disturbing look of the doll.

"Don't worry, we'd better get going."

The group returned to the garden where the tree and the white flower were, and to their horror they found that the whole lawn was covered with blood and both the tree and the flower were dead and covered with blood.

"Lydia..."

"I see," said Lydia as she closed her eyes and turned her face, "let's get out of here."

In the doll's room, Lydia put the purple doll on the empty table and one of the tables went by itself, showing a hole in the floor.

Like the hole in the chimney, there was an iron staircase and the three had to descend until they reached a room they did not recognize at first.

"This is the library! It looks very different now that It is well lit," Percy exclaimed.

There was no way out of the library, so they decided to go upstairs, but unfortunately, they couldn't leave the dolls' room either.

"Maybe if we go down," said Lydia, "the house will change again."

The three of them went down and found out that Lydia was right, they were no longer in the library, but in a narrow, dark corridor. There was no choice but to move north in that complete darkness.

The youngsters came to a door made of tarnished wood with a sign on it.

"Come to my room."

"We are nearing the end," Lydia warned them, "but it will be the one to lead us out of the house, or it will be the end of our lives."

The children opened the door and saw that in front of them were the stairs that communicated with the kitchen of the house, which now looked very different thanks to the good lighting.

The main hallway on the second floor also looked very different thanks to the daylight coming from the windows, but an unpleasant surprise awaited them at the end of the hallway. Kira's body lay inert in front of the door.

"Kira..." Lydia groaned, grabbing the body of the black cat, took it to the middle of the corridor and placed it on a small table that was carried by Percy.

The daytime lights shone through the window and illuminated Kira, who now seemed to be taking his daily nap.

The boys went through the door and at first the absolute darkness surrounded them completely, then it vanished and showed them a room submerged in an evil aura that took the form of a kind of dark mist that ran quickly through the place.

The middle room had a ceramic floor with blue-flowered figures and a bed on a faded red carpet.

The bed was messy and showed what appeared to be a lot of bloodstains, in fact there were also bloodstains on the floor, as if someone had bled out on the bed and then crawled on the floor.

The rest of the furniture in the place was ordinary furniture except for a bookcase containing several volumes of magic, and on a desk in a corner was the last entry in Ellen's diary.

Lydia wanted to read the paper, but Viola grabbed the paper and threw it out one of the windows.

At that moment the room was tinged with a dark blue shadow as the breaking of glass was heard, Ellen had arrived for the last confrontation.

It was no longer a disembodied apparition, this time Ellen's body was heading towards the group. The girl apparently had no eyes, no legs and her tongue had been cut off.

Ellen wanted to say something, but she was babbling words that couldn't be understood.

Lydia clenched her fists to her side as she forced her eyes closed and bowed her head.

"I'm sorry... run away!" Lydia shouted, and the whole group fled in pursuit of Ellen, who, despite bleeding and crawling across the floor, was following them with unheard of speed.

The escape was difficult because some furniture was being walked around and hindered the escape of the group. Fortunately they all left the house and Ellen didn't seem to follow them.

Viola seemed anxious and was leading the march, but stopped when she noticed that neither Lydia nor Percy were following her.

"What's going on? Let's go to my father," said Viola.

"Stop lying, Ellen," said Lydia, looking down on her with a cold sneer.

"When did you find out?" asked Ellen, who from the beginning had possessed Viola's body.

"There were many hints," Lydia explained, "and not just about your journal entries. Your actions did not correspond to the Viola I had just met, she may have acted desperately to return to her father, but she would never have decided to sacrifice Mr. Frog and the white flower in the process."

"I could also hear your heartbeat," Percy said, "although the house and its surroundings took away all my powers as well as Lydia's, my natural cat boy senses remained intact. Ever since we met in front of the rose bush, I knew you were already lying."

"So Percy told you I was lying from the start," Ellen told them.

"No, in fact it was you who discovered yourself," said Lydia, "when we met in the rose bush, you said you couldn't get through. That was a big mistake, Ellen, since roses have always served as a barrier to locking up demons since ancient times."

"You're right," Ellen conceded, "I acted very quickly out of desperation."

"You thought you would live forever, but whoever goes into despair loses his supposed immortality in the end, that's the trap of the one who practices necromancy and other forbidden arts," Lydia told her. Now the magic of the house has subsided and I can use my powers."

"Are you going to kill me?" Viola asked her frowningly.

"No, even though you did horrible things, I understand your pain," said Lydia, "you always wanted to get out of here. The living tree next to the stump at the entrance of the house, that is the symbol of life and death. You were the white flower that was always despised by the other yellow flowers."

"Same as you, Lydia," Ellen replied, "but you're different. Ever since I met you and Percy, I've been very envious of you, you guys had each other, while I've been alone all my life, even my parents despised me."

Ellen's body gradually approached the group, moved by the willpower of the real Viola. Soon everything would be decided for better or worse.

 **CONTINUARÁ...**

 _Thank you for reading, do not forget to vote and comment, pretty please._


	14. The witch's house

**LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH'S HOUSE**

 **Capítulo 14: The witch's house**

The black clouds covered the blue sky indicating that a drizzle would soon fall, a scene that was accurate about the scene that was about to unfold in front of Ellen's haunted house, which had been discovered by Lydia.

"All those dead cats, how could you?" Percy hissed to her as he bristled his tail and showed his now elongated fangs.

"Cats always came to my house," Ellen answered, "they always conspired against me. They came from leagues around to end my life."

"Cats have always fought the forces of evil for the benefit of mankind," Lydia replied, "it is an ugly irony that they are now seen as a symbol of bad luck."

"Or the bad guys from the movies," Percy concluded.

"That last black cat always lurked in the house," said Ellen, "always instigating, I wanted to catch him but he always snuck out. I was finally able to catch him when we were alone on the North Lawn, and I grabbed him so tightly that I peeled off some of his skin."

"Kira sacrificed himself to get you," Lydia replied, "I told him not to, but he made her decision in the end."

"What do you mean?" Ellen asked.

"Do you think the bottle we found in the infirmary will help you destroy the rose bush?" Lydia said to her.

Ellen grabbed the jar that Lydia threw at her and saw to her horror that instead of the original contents, the jar was filled with Kira's blood.

"I told him not to do it, that the "rules" of the house would not allow him to meddle with the puzzles It gave us," Lydia told her, "I was very lucky with the fake petals I gave to the yellow flowers, and there was no other chance of another stroke of luck. When Kira, who could move around the house at will, changed the contents of the jar with hisr blood, he sealed his fate as the house absorbed his vital essence."

"Kira, he only had the strength to get close enough to the door of your room and tried to warn the real Viola, who soon everything would be over," Percy concluded.

The real Viola slowly approached the group as she tried to babble something as she had heard everything.

"Excuse me Viola," Lydia said to Ellen's bloody body, "with the powers of the house nullifying my magic, I had to pretend I didn't know it was you. If I had revealed Ellen's deception since we entered the house, the magic of the house would have gone into chaos and we would all have died. I had to get you out of the house, now I can save you."

"What are you going to do!" shouted Viola.

"Not only can roses form a barrier, so can salt," said Lydia, "you were very careful in that sense, Ellen, there was not a single salt shaker in the whole house, but I can still make salt increase your despair."

The black clouds were already over the house and soon the drizzle began to drizzle down on everyone.

Ellen was watching Lydia, Percy and Viola immutably on her old body, when she noticed something on the corner of her lips soaked in light rain.

"Lydia, what are you doing? AHHHHGGGG," Percy shouted as his eyes looked up into the black clouds and then covered his face with his hands as if he were seeing a horror.

The raindrops were salty.

"Did you say you were jealous of me, Ellen? I didn't always have Percy by my side, just like you were despised by everyone else," Lydia said. "You couldn't get out? Even if you're surrounded by people, you can still be lonely. What is falling at this moment are not only raindrops, but also all the tears I shed when I realized that I did not live a single day of my life and only existed."

Ellen gave a heartbreaking scream and her soul tried to flee the place, which together with Viola's desire to return to her original body, caused Ellen and Viola to switch bodies.

Viola lay unconscious on the grass with her original body, while Ellen had returned to hers, who would soon die.

"Percy, are you all right?" Lydia asked him when she approached her boyfriend.

"I am, Lydia, I'm just worried to see you cry, and when I saw all those tears of yours."

Lydia hugged Percy, who reciprocated the hug. After a moment they split up.

"Percy, help me get Ellen to the tree stump, I have to save her."

Percy did so and carefully deposited the withered body of Ellen who was already dying.

Lydia murmured an enchantment and a magic circle appeared around the stump, then Ellen's body was transmuted into a white flower, just like the one next to the tree in the garden inside the house.

"It's a lily tree," Lydia explained to Percy, "Ellen's memories came to my mind, sometimes when she was a little better, she would come out here and sit by this tree, yes, she was like a pure and beautiful white flower. But when you only get contempt from others, in the end you change for the worse."

"The ghost head with the lilies was another manifestation of Ellen?" Percy asked.

"Yes, it was the subconscious manifestation of her desire to be saved," Lydia replied, "now she and the other spirits trapped in the house can rest in peace."

"Including Mr. Frog?"

"All of them: Mr. Frog, Kira, the invisible bird, the ghosts, even the addicted prisoner... now they will all reside in this white flower that will become a beautiful white tree."

When she said this, the butterfly in Percy's hair flapped its delicate wings one last time as if to say goodbye and then vanished.

.

.

Eighty years later...

A beautiful blonde girl with braids was approaching a couple of trees in the middle of the forest.

"Here it is, here it is!" said the girl to an adult woman who, like the girl, had blond hair except that it fell into an elegant ponytail.

The girl and the woman wore casual clothes and watched in rapt fascination the landscape in front of them.

"You know my princess? Your grandmother told me that a friend of hers and her boyfriend planted this white tree so that a girl would never feel alone again."

"A little girl?"

"Yes, she lived in a house that now has no ruins left. These two trees were at the entrance of the house."

"And the child is happy now?"

Your grandmother told me that she was and that she had a lot of friends to play with.

Mother and daughter left after a while, and bathed in the sunlight, a varied group of people, cats and other animals, insects and even plants, all translucent and in front of a translucent house, seemed to spend a pleasant afternoon with a beautiful seven-year-old girl. And there, watching them all from a tree branch, a black cat smiled gently as he lay down to take his usual nap in the radiant sunshine.

 **FIN**

 _Thank you for reading, do not forget to vote and comment, pretty please._


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